Mass. might follow R.I.’s HPV vaccine mandate, despite protests
Massachusetts health officials are watching how the mandate experience plays out in Rhode Island.
Massachusetts health officials may follow in Rhode Island’s footsteps and require students receive the HPV vaccine, even as Rhode Island parents protest the move.
Seventh-graders in Rhode Island started school this year under a new mandate that says girls and boys must be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cancer, according to The Boston Globe.
Parents have protested and a local school committee asked for a repeal, the Globe reports.
HPV can cause cancers of the cervix, anus, head, or neck, though usually not until adulthood. Doctors want to give the vaccine early, before children are at risk of being infected and when their young immune systems can generate more protection, according to the Globe.
Until now, the HPV vaccine—sold under the trade name Gardasil—was the only immunization recommended by the federal government but not required for school attendance in Rhode Island, the Globe reports. The meningitis and diptheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines were mandated in 2009 without controversy.
Read the full Globe story here.
Parent’s guide to important vaccines
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