Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Assessing Mandatory HPV Vaccination: Who Should Call the Shots?

2008; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 36; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1748-720x.2008.00282.x

1748-720X

Gail Javitt, Deena Berkowitz, Lawrence O. Gostin,

Genital Health and Disease

In 2007, many legislatures considered, and two enacted, bills mandating HPV vaccination for young girls as a condition of school attendance. Such mandates raise significant legal, ethical, and social concerns. This paper argues that mandating HPV vaccination for minor females is premature since long-term safety and effectiveness of the vaccine has not been established, HPV does not pose imminent and significant risk of harm to others, a sex specific mandate raises constitutional concerns, and a mandate will burden financially existing government health programs and private physicians. Absent careful consideration and public conversation, HPV mandates may undermine coverage rates for other vaccines.