Most parents do everything they can to protect their children by slathering on sunscreen, putting on bike helmets, and holding hands while crossing the street. They love that child more than life itself.
These things are a no-brainer and most parents do them.
One thing we are not doing as a nation is immunizing our children for the cancer causing human papilloma virus.
The human papilloma virus can cause cancer of the cervix, mouth, throat, anus and vulva, and is spread through sexual activity.
There is a vaccine to prevent many of those cancers, which can affect both females and males, called the HPV vaccine.
The vaccine costs a few hundred dollars and compared to the tens of thousands it costs to treat cancer is a bargain, not only financially, but emotionally to the parent of a young woman or man stricken with a preventable cancer.
All moral judgments aside, teens make decisions to do things we do not wish them to do. Their brains are not fully developed until they are in their twenties, and they may make a decision at a party drinking alcohol that they may not make when they are sober.
By the time they are 16 years old, parents can only hope to influence that teen to make positive, healthy decisions, no matter how they were raised.
With the influences of today, television and common cohabitation, as well as a definition of sexuality that is different than those of previous generations, it is in teens’ best interest to protect their health and prevent death causing diseases.
Oral sex, often defined as sex by parents, is not defined as sex by some teens today. Teens may say they are not sexually active, but be participating in those types of sexual activity – where they can acquire HPV.
One can’t hold that child’s hand forever. That sweet angelic child will turn into a teenager, and they won’t want a parent to hold their hand all of the time. In fact, they may not want to be seen with you in public, especially around 7th or 8th grade.
As hard as it is for parents to think of, most people will become sexually active at some point. Hopefully, a teen will discuss it with their parents if it happens when they are a teen.
One can’t always count on that, and teens will make their own decisions, influenced by friends and dates.
So, as parents, we have a choice – parental distaste and avoidance – or preventing several types of cancer and perhaps saving your child’s life.
As parents, we are shirking our duty to our children when we can prevent a bout of cancer or early death. Who wants a child to develop cancer? No one dreams that nightmare.
This is a no-brainer. Have your teen vaccinated.
Karen La Pierre

“This year’s report correctly and usefully emphasizes the importance of HPV infection as a cause of the growing number of cancers of the mouth and throat, anus, vulva, uterine cervix and the availability of vaccines against the major cancer causing strains of HPV,” said Nation Cancer Institute Director Harold Varmus, MD.  He continued to say that investments made in HPV research to develop effective and safe vaccines will only have the expected payoffs if rates of vaccination improve markedly.