By Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star, Calif.
(MCT)
Nov. 14--A federal government panel says boys should be vaccinated for sexually
transmitted HPV in addition to girls. A new California law says adolescents
can get the inoculations without parental permission.
The actions, delivered in October, divide some and inflame more than a
few. But Ventura County's public health officer said the recommendations make
sense because they offer protection for children who may become sexually
active.
"Being prepared is something you should do before something happens,"
said Dr. Robert Levin. "It's not something you can time to a moment before
something happens."
A panel that advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
recommended in October that boys age 11 and 12 get vaccinated against human
papillomavirus. Several years earlier, the committee recommended girls as
young as 11 get vaccinated. The panel's findings usually are followed by
federal health officials.
The virus, which comes in dozens of variations, can cause cervical cancer
in females but can also bring other forms of cancer and genital warts. Males
can suffer warts and throat or anal cancers. According to the CDC, the virus
is so common that about 50 percent of sexually active men and women get it.
To try to control the spread in California, the state Legislature passed
a bill that allows children 12 and older to get vaccinated without parental
consent. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law last month despite
opposition from the California Catholic Conference and others who see the
measure as an intrusion. It becomes effective Jan. 1.
"It's almost like the state is telling us how to parent our children. ...
When you mandate things on parents, I think that's when parents get (ticked),"
said a woman at a Camarillo Starbucks on Friday. She has a 9-year-old boy and
a 12-year-old girl. Both may eventually be vaccinated for HPV but not yet.
"There's not a need right now," she said.
A few minutes later in the same Starbucks, Vicki Hines reacted to the
comment.
"Most parents don't know what their children are doing," said the
45-year-old Ventura woman. "We live in a culture where everything is 'go, go,
go. Fast, fast, fast.'"
The vaccinations, which are not required but are recommended, are handled
by pediatricians or other primary care doctors as well as Ventura County's
public health clinics. One reason the CDC panel may have recommended boys get
vaccinated is because not enough girls get the series of three shots, said Dr.
Robert Fostakowsky of Coastal Pediatric Medical Group in Ventura and Oxnard.
When he tells parents the vaccination is recommended, they sometimes turn it
down.
"It's almost like denial," he said. "This is transmitted sexually, so
therefore parents decline it."
Lilly Dollenmayer said her 12-year-old son still thinks girls carry
cooties. But after talking with a doctor and researching the vaccination, the
PTA member from Newbury Park decided to have her son inoculated. It's a way to
protect him into adulthood, she said.
"We never know if we're going to expose our kids to chickenpox, but we
still vaccinate them," she said.
But immunization isn't the only way to stop the spread of the disease
among teenagers. Abstinence until marriage works, too, said the Rev. Steve
Larson of The Bridge church in Newbury Park.
"In my view, they're actually vaccinating against behavior," he said,
referring to the government actions on HPV. "My reaction is that it's tragic
they have to do that."
Many parents and doctors said they have no quarrel with the
recommendation that boys get vaccinated.
"The fact is girls get it from boys," said Fostakowsky.
The law that allows vaccinations without consent meets more resistance.
Archbishop Jose Gomez, leader of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said
in a statement the law bypasses parental involvement, wisdom and guidance.
New state laws prohibit tattoos for any minors and allow piercings for
teens only when a parent is present, said Cindy Hickey, a Moorpark physical
therapist. But teens can get an abortion or an HPV vaccination without
permission.
"I think that's ridiculous," said Hickey, who has no problem with the
recommendation on vaccinating boys but wants parental involvement. "It's scary
to me. That should be not done without parental permission and knowledge."
Advocates of the new law say it will give more adolescents a chance at
vaccination, even if there's no way to obtain parental permission. Levin noted
current laws already allow minors to get treatment for sexually transmitted
disease without consent. It only makes sense to provide vaccinations as well,
he said.
"Sometimes our children surprise us. Sometimes they disappoint us, and we
never know when or how that is going to happen," he said, referring to parents
who don't want their kids to have sex until they're married. "It doesn't mean
every set of parents who feel that way will have children who behave that
way."
This story contains material from The Associated Press.
On the Net: http://www.cdc.gov
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(c)2011 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)
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