By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times
During a spring legislative session dominated by school safety concerns, lawmakers left another pressing health issue on the back burner. And, like the Parkland shootings that commanded their attention, it involves life, death and young people.
A bill called the “Women’s Cancer Prevention Act” would have required children entering Florida public schools to receive the vaccine that protects against cervical and other cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infections.
While it didn’t get much traction in the Capitol this time around, the bill is likely to pop up again next year as other states begin to pass and consider similar legislation. It also enjoys overwhelming support from the medical community.
Still, the continuing controversy over the HPV vaccine threatens to stand in the way.
“The introduction of any new vaccine is controversial. But as a country, we seem to forget the benefit of vaccination. The message that we need to get out is that we can prevent multiple cancers in men and women with this vaccine,” said Dr. Anna Giuliano, founding director of the Center for Infection Research in Cancer at Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center.
Nearly all sexually active adults carry some of HPV’s 170 active strains. Most are harmless, but a few are known to cause cancer. Reproductive cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva and anus are most common, but HPV is also the cause of 72 percent of oropharyngeal cancers, which can impact the base of the tongue, tonsils and walls of the pharynx.
Because of this, the sexual stigma attached to the vaccine makes it difficult for physicians to talk to worried parents about it. Sometimes, it’s hard to convince them to give the shot to their 10- or 11-year-old child, said Dr. Ellen Daley, a professor studying women’s health at the University of South Florida.
In addition, according to physicians and researchers, anti-vaccination groups have spread fear and misinformation about the vaccination online, with stories of health problems including deaths.
“No, it’s not causing autism and no, it’s not causing your kid to walk backwards,” Daley said. “It’s a very, very researched vaccine, but I think when people are not ready to trust something, there’s nothing you can say to make them change their mind. It’s a tough group to break into.”