07/29/2013
Fewer Girls Receiving HPV Vaccine
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sounding an alarm that millions of girls are not receiving the vaccine to protect them against cervical cancer -- the second-leading cancer killer of women. Only 33 percent of teenage girls finished the required three doses of the the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine in 2012.
■Class discussion: The CDC says all girls and boys should be vaccinated against the virus which also can cause other cancers. Have you been vaccinated against HPV? Should vaccinations be required to prevent the spread of disease? Why, or why not? Who should determine which vaccines you get? Have vaccination programs ever eliminated a disease?