“You seem to argue that a woman should not vaccinate themselves for this.”
Not what I’m saying at all. All I am saying is that it should not be a required vaccination, and certainly not for children. And even more certainly not for young boys.
If an adult woman wants to go in and get vaccinated for it and pay for it herself, then by all means. Otherwise, it’s a bad deal.
“should not vaccinate against it”.
Given that states like California are making it mandatory for children, than yes, they should not be vaccinating against it.
“We vaccinate people each year for the flu, not because it will stop an outbreak, but in order to protect those who are most susceptible to the flu and most likely to have serious consequences if they get sick. Why would the HPV vaccine not fall into that same category?”
If that’s your argument, then I have absolutely no beef with it.
“You know, you can 100% protect against the flu — lock yourself in the house, get filters, and avoid contact.”
You can contract the flu by standing too close to someone who is infected with it, by shaking their hand, etc. Not true for HPV. That’s a big difference.
“To suggest that because we can’t protect against something 100%, there’s no point in doing anything at all, seems short-sighted.”
It’s the policy that has been followed wrt vaccinations. If it’s non-communicable, then it is voluntary and reserved for adults.
If an adult woman wants to go in and get vaccinated for it and pay for it herself, then by all means. Otherwise, it’s a bad deal.
The whole point of giving the HPV vaccine to young preteens is to give them an immunity before they are ever exposed. Waiting until after exposure has already occurred makes the vaccine useless!
It’s the policy that has been followed wrt vaccinations. If it’s non-communicable, then it is voluntary and reserved for adults.
There you go again, talking about HPV as if it weren't communicable. Since it is impossible to be infected by any strain of HPV other than through contact with another person, I have no idea why you think it is non-communicable. FYI, those strains of HPV that are transmitted sexually are also transmitted by non-sexual contact. They just show a preference for a certain method of transmission.