Parents Still Hesitant Over Mandatory HPV Vaccination

Human Papiloma Virus or HPV cases in the United States is rapidly increasing. The most alarming part is that most cases of HPV belongs to the teen and pre-teen demographic category. This is why there is a proposal to the US Health Department to consider imposing HPV vaccines mandatory to all schools.

However, according to a study conducted by researchers from School of Global Public Health - University of North Carolina, Parents are still hesitant about a law that mandates the HPV vaccine.

Based on 1,501 respondents who are parents of kid 11-17 years old, only 21% agreed while 54% disagreed. However, the parent approval rating triples to 57% if the law included an opt-out clause. This provision in the simply means that a parent can withdraw from the mandatory vaccination if he/she feels that the terms and conditions deemed unacceptable. The researchers worry that the opt-out provision might affect the effectivity of the vaccine implementation.

According to an interview by ABC News, to William Calo, the lead author from the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina: "We were expecting a higher number of parents supporting vaccine requirements, 21 percent is a lot lower than we expected."

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the sexually transmitted disease HPV increases the incidence of cancer development to infected patients. It is mostly associated to cervical cancer. Based on a data gathered from 2008 to 2012, there is 38,793 reported cases of HPV infections that lead to cancer in the United states. There are 23,000 cases for female and 15,793 for males. It is reported that HPV is responsible for 90% of all cervical and anal related cancers, about 70% for vaginal and vulvar cancers and 70% for penile and oropharynx cancer. The rapid increase in the HPV cases were said to be caused by unprotected sex mostly by teenagers.