Grade 5 girls won't be immunized for sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer

[Lily's_Mom]

From today's Edmonton Journal:

"The primary reason was the board felt very strongly that in supporting the vaccination, it infers a level of endorsement to the vaccination, and there still seems to be a level of uncertainty surrounding the overall safety of this vaccine on the whole health of the child," said Sandra Bannard, chairwoman of the St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School division, south of Edmonton.

[Arduinna]

good news!

[dogmom327]

That is good news! It's so scary to think that the government is so ready to jump on board with mandating every vaccine that is made available.

[neverdoingitagain]

It is part of the vaccination program in most schools in Alberta. The Catholic school board made the decision not to have Gardasil as part of the program(which is great) but they are only a small part of the Alberta school system.
I'm very happy that someone in the school system chose not to add this vaccine, and I'm actually considering sending my dd to a catholic school.
Sigh...even though we chose not to vaccinate at all and are recovering catholics

[AlexisT]

A British school did this as well (or, rather, stopped the NHS from using the school to give Gardasil--keep in mind that all vaccines are totally optional in the UK). I don't like the reasoning behind it for reasons which are totally independent of vaccination--the church/state/medical issues bother me. They claimed that their objection was solely medical and not moral, but they never objected to any other schools-based vaccination program.

[Lily's_Mom]

A little update:

Even though the chairperson of the catholic school board said that the primary reason they've opted out of the vaccination is uncertainty about the safety of the vaccine, news reports on the radio fail to mention this. They only mention that the board opted out of the vaccine for moral reasons. ie they believe offering the vaccine to 11 year old girls condones pre-marital sex. So, instead of people questioning the safety of the vaccine, they just think the board is imposing their morals on families and taking away their choice. Now they're trying to figure out how to offer the vaccine at clinics so that families can get their daughters vaccinated without having to pay the $400+ fee to get the shots (because the vaccine program offers the shots for free through the schools).

Maybe a non-catholic school board should opt out of the vaccine program...then people would really start to question the safety of the shots, instead of just saying people are worried about young girls having pre-marital sex.

[the_lissa]

A Catholic school board near me did this too, but they did it for moral reasons.

My daughter will never have this vaccine, but that is the stupidest reason ever.