HPV Shot? Why in the World Not?

“But Moooooom I hate shots and I don’t plan on having sex- I’m only thirteen. What kind of person do you think I am!” My daughter, Isabella, was screaming and protesting, obviously insulted. Ah, to be that young and naïve again I thought to myself as I pointed toward the door and told her we were going whether she wanted to or not. It’s never easy talking to your young children about sex and all of the good and evil that can come of it. Some are more accepting than others, but my daughter is very strong-willed and quite stubborn. I imagine she gets somewhat of a kick out of fighting me about this and everything else but how could I blame her when I was exactly the same way when I was her age. In fact, I still apologize to my mother. A good parent wants nothing but the absolute best for their child and will do anything to protect them no matter what but there are never any guarantees that your child will be safe all the time and won’t make poor decisions. Their innocence cannot be preserved because children can’t be protected from life. However, I will do whatever I can to preserve her health and offer her all of the information she needs to make good decisions on her own when she is older and will be facing issues of sexuality and peer pressure and substance use head on. I would never send her into battle alone.
Now, as a thirteen year old girl, she understands the basics of sex but doesn’t consider all of the strains of diseases and ways of getting pregnant and the personal and medical decisions that must be made and the life one has to lead when living with a disease or a being a teenager with a baby. There are so many long-term, branching consequences to a brief sexual interaction. I couldn’t imagine her being pregnant as a teenager- she would have to drop out of school and I’d have to support them until she figured out how. Either way it would be a struggle for her to get ahead and finish school and go to college to be able to earn a decent living. Or if she contracted a disease that could cause cervical cancer or genital warts that will greatly inhibit her chances of a healthy marriage and family and a career in healthcare, in case she became interested. If I can prevent all of these things for her with a series of three simple shots over a six-month period you better believe that we got into the car and headed for her pediatrician’s office. There are so many sexually transmitted infections- why not immunize our children with the vaccines we do have? Because it’s unnatural? Because parents don’t believe in them? Avoiding having to talk to children, particularly girls, about sex or making them think it’s now safe to be sexually active? Religious beliefs? I repect religious practices but being religious will not protect or cure anything contracted from unsafe sex. Since HPV is one of many diseases, information is key in maintaining health and being honest with children about what consequences of unsafe sex are out there because abstinenence is obviously not practiced by the majority. This is a global problem- there are epidemics across the world- HIV is a prime example and our children need to know that. Sexually transmitted infections ruin millions of lives, causing terrible disease, a lifetime of medical care and death and our children need to know that.
The shot is said to last five years and a booster may be needed but the critical thing to remember is that it’s effective. I will not be able to monitor her every action or chaperone the parties she attends or sit inbetween her and her (future) boyfriend on the couch. But I can do everything in my power to inform and protect her and HPV is a serious disease with many strains and scores of brutal consequences. I know she may resist and resent me now but I know she will come to see that it is out of pure, unconditional love that I make sure that she is fully immunized. It can be a dangerous world and we must watch over our children in every and any way that we can- it’s our duty and responsibility as loving and concerned parents. With making the decision to have my child be given the HPV vaccine, I truly believe that the positives outweigh the negatives.