I was thrilled to read, over my second cup of coffee this morning, that New Hampshire is going to offer the HPV vaccine free to all girls between 11 and 18. In fact they’ve budgeted nearly $5 million for the vaccine.
What kind of conservatives are they?!
The kind that see conserving the lives of women as important! And thank goodness there are some of them around. I hope others come out of the woodwork soon. Cervical cancer is reported to be the second most frequent cancer killer of women and this vaccine can prevent most of it. Why wouldn’t any state offer it? Because some people hold the absurd belief that if you offer HPV protection to girls they’ll go about having sex willy nilly, as if HPV were the only thing they were worried about. As if pregnancy isn’t an even greater immediate concern for girls, and as if they don’t think about HIV, Herpes, and other STIs.
New Hampshire, thank you!
Meanwhile, over Thanksgiving I was talking to my aunt, a nurse in a pediatric practice, and while we were chatting about other things a commercial for Gardisil came on the TV — Comedy Central, I think. I couldn’t hear the sound, but the images were of athletic looking, strong, girls and I was really impressed that there even was a Gardisil commercial in the first place. When I asked my aunt whether her office was offering it yet, she said that they would be soon, and said that many parents were already asking for it.
Way to go parents!! Protect your daughters.