14 DAY TRIAL // With the amazing possibilities opened up by the HPV vaccine, which promises a defense against cervical cancer in women, you would think that everyone would jump at the opportunity to safeguard their children against the terrible disease. Not at all, experts say, as many people are too ignorant, or too entrenched in their religious views to allow for their kids to get vaccinated, if such a thing is imaginable. At this point, rather than giving the shot to all teen girls, as it would be normal, people are debating the moral and political implications of this vaccine, which is proof that conscience is something in short supply these days.
A new study, funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), is aimed at understanding how come some people are so irresponsible and negligent to refuse their children the chance to be safe from cancer. The work found out that people tended to have their perceptions of the risks and meaning associated with this vaccine influenced by their cultural views, which is a more politically correct way of saying religion. The paper, which was designed online, analyzed the views of more than 1,500 American citizens, and determined that those who were conservative and favored authority and individualism tended to see the vaccine as risky.
The explanation they gave was that it would encourage young girls to engage in unprotected relations with more boys, knowing that they were safe from HPV. Such a line of thought is mind-boggling without sense. What these irresponsible people are basically saying is that their young daughters would better learn the value of restraint, chastity, and virtue, otherwise they will die. Many critics who have spoken out against these people say that the groups behind this controversy, and that oppose large-scale vaccination, are the same ultra-conservative, right-wing, religious groups we've become accustomed to in the United States.
These people are those who are trying to impose moral judges in courts, and to revert the country to a religious, Christian fundamentalist state. And they are willing to let their children die a horrific death for this goal.
In the same NSF-funded work, it was revealed that people who favored gender equality and government involvement in public health care tended to view the vaccine as more valuable, and less risky than the other group. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended in October 2009 that all girls around the age of 12 and 13 in the US got the HPV vaccine. A simple shot can protect them from one of the most horrific diseases on the planet, yet some of the little girls' parents are debating whether giving them the vaccine is morally acceptable. What is the logical thought process that leads from a vaccine to a debate on morality? There is none.