Alberta Canada bishops warn against HPV vaccine

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Alta. bishops warn against HPV vaccine

Hall , Canwest News Service

Published: Monday, June 23, 2008

EDMONTON - Alberta's Catholic bishops are warning

parents to think twice about letting their

daughters be vaccinated against a cancer-causing, sexually transmitted virus.

But the bishops, in a joint statement issued

Monday, stop well short of barring Catholic

schools in Alberta from administering the

vaccine, and acknowledge that parents are the

" primary decision-makers " when it comes to their children's health.

The Alberta government last week announced it

would fund a program to offer the vaccination against human papillomavirus.

Alberta's Health Minister said Monday he wants

Catholic schools to co-operate with the newly

announced government immunization program against human papillomavirus.

Ron Liepert said school boards will have to " live

with the long term consequences " if they refuse

to participate in the new campaign.

" I'm not sure what the debate is about, " said

Liepert, who noted the program is voluntary.

" They need to look at this through the eyes of

cancer survivors who have clearly said to us, 'Please do this'. "

The bishops said the HPV vaccine has raised

questions about whether it sends a message to

girls that casual sex is acceptable.

" Catholic teaching is that sexuality is a

God-given gift that should be reserved for marriage, " the bishops wrote.

" So-called 'casual' or 'recreational' sexual

activity carries with it profound risks to a

young person's spiritual, emotional, moral and physical health.

" At best, a vaccine can only be potentially

effective against one of these risks, that to

physical health, and may have other unintended and unwanted consequences. "

Most other provinces have also implemented

programs and, in some jurisdictions, the move has

generated controversy. At least one Catholic

school board in Ontario is refusing to allow the vaccine in its schools.

Chairwoman Olsen said the Edmonton Catholic

School Board supports the position of the

archdiocese - and will begin implementing the vaccine program in the fall.

" We believe there's a partnership between parent,

school and church and different partners have

different responsibilities, " said Olsen, " In the

area of health, the responsibility defaults to the parent. "

She said the board sees the Gardasil vaccine as

being much the same as other vaccines offered to

students, in that it's up to the parents to

decide whether their children receive it.

The vaccination will be made available to girls

in Grade 5 in September and to girls in Grade 9 students next year.

It protects against the four strains of human

papillomavirus that cause 70 per cent of cervical

cancers and 90 per cent of genital warts.

Parents will be asked to sign a consent form

before their daughters receive the vaccine, which

is administered in three shots over six months

and is most effective before girls become sexually active.

The bishops' statement said there is " no general

consensus that HPV vaccination is the most

prudent strategy in terms of allocating the

health-care resources aimed at preventing deaths from cervical cancer. "

The bishops went on to urge parents to " learn the

medical facts about Gardasil and its limitations

before deciding whether their daughters should receive the vaccine. "

With files from the Calgary Herald

© Edmonton Journal 2008

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Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

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