By: S.M. MOHD IDRIS, President, CAP
THE Consumer’s Association of Penang (CAP) has repeatedly objected to the proposal to vaccinate all 13-year-old girls from the human papillomavirus (HPV) virus, a sexually transmitted virus because it is unnecessary, unscientific and unsafe.
Despite numerous objections by many quarters, a sum of RM150mil is to be spent annually by the Government beginning this year on HPV vaccinations for an estimated 300,000 girls in the country as protection from only two of the 40 different cervical cancers causing HPV.
HPV is contracted through sexual contact; instead of inoculating our young against a sexually transmitted disease (STD), the Government should focus on prevention by educating them on religious and moral values.
As recipients of a vaccine against STD, ill-informed young girls could be lulled into a false sense of security that the HPV vaccine would protect them against other sexually transmitted diseases.
The risk of cervical cancers itself has been blown out of proportion. It is a known fact that about 90% of all HPV infections are removed by the immune system within two years. This in itself makes the vaccine irrelevant and redundant.
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