HPV Vaccine in Decision Scenario

HPV Vaccine

In Decision Scenario number one, a thirteen-year-old girl is about to transfer to a new school in a new state that has a mandated law to vaccinate all adolescent girls against the Human Papilloma Virus before being allowed to register for class or allowed to start school. Although it is a requirement for entrance to the school, the girl's father does not want her to have to get that vaccine because he feels it is unnecessary since she is not sexually active, nor is the vaccine researched enough to merit its usage so freely and mandatorily (Muson, p.103). The major moral issue at hand here is not that this vaccine is condoning sex before marriage, but that the young girl is not having a say in something that is going to directly affect her body (Richardson). Whose interest should be valued more? Is anyone allowing the young girl who will be having this vaccine injected into her to have an opinion on the matter? Who, in this situation, fully knows what is best for the thirteen-year-old girl? It is this issue that we shall analyze and distinguish the possible implications in effect.

The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine is a relatively new development. With HPV's direct link to cervical cancer, it has become an issue of not only preventing an unfortunate illness, but also protecting someone before any chance of contracting this virus is even possible. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, one that is so common, that doctors and vaccine producers are now directly recommending girls as young as 11 or 12 years to get this vaccine before any opportunity of contracting the virus is even possible (CDC). But whose best interest is at mind? One side of this argument can be supported by the fact that this is indeed protecting the girls who are being mandated to get this vaccine. By assuring that the adolescent girls get the HPV vaccines, doctors, parents, and any who will be involved if a mishap occurs will not have to worry about the possibility of anyone who has gotten the HPV vaccine to get HPV in the future. Although this is not allowing the girls to have a say in this issue that is directly affecting them, it is indeed providing them with some sort of protection from something that would eventually cause them harm. Some argue that it is wrong to get this vaccine so early on, it has a protection window span of five years, which is about the average age of the beginning of sexual activity for teenagers in the United States (CDC). Granted, not every teenager is the same or acts in the same ways, but if a young woman wants to become sexually active later on in life, and has not gotten the vaccine, they are putting themselves at risk for catching the vaccine if the partner who she has decided to have sex has had sex in the past with another partner who had the virus and did not know about it, nor has gotten the vaccine herself. It is a never ending circle of unfortunate events that could be avoided if it is mandated for girls to get the HPV vaccines at such an early age. Although girls would be forced to get these vaccines and not given much choice in the matter, they are also not old enough to really know what it best for them. At that age, they are already going through so many changes, emotionally, psychologically, and physically, that they are already at a limit where they should have someone else choose for them and decide truly what is that they need and what is in their best interest.

On the other side of the issue, no one should have the right to choose what needs to be done on an issue that is so pertinent to the individual (Richardson). There are potentially too many risks involved in getting this vaccine that mandating someone to get it is far too risky (CDC). The vaccine is a relatively new development and making it a requirement to enter school is immoral because the system is forcing these young girls to get something that they might not be ready for, especially at such a young age. They are deciding what will be best for these young girls when no one truly knows the long-term implications of something like this. No one is giving these girls the moral and legal right to choose what would be best for their own bodies, and that is the moral issue in question here. If a young girl does not feel comfortable getting this vaccine, they should not be put in the position where they have to choose between going to school and getting an education and/or getting this mandated vaccine that could potentially have hurtful long-term effects. There is not enough research to merit a full mandatory law for the HPV Vaccine and if the adolescent girl does not feel that it is right for her, then she should have the right to refuse any sort of treatment