Evening Sun reporters love to argue. The sides in this debate were chosen arbitrarily and do not necessarily reflect the author’s true viewpoints. This week, Jill Osterhout and Jessica Lewis tackle the HPV vaccination issue: In June 2006, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend the first vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases in females caused by certain types of genital human papillomavirus (HPV). The vaccine, Gardasil, protects against four HPV types. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently licensed this vaccine for use in girls and women, ages 9-26 years. The vaccine is given through a series of three shots over a six-month period.

The overall ethics and morals behind the shot itself have caused debates nationwide on whether the shot is a positive medical benefit or simply enables young people to be irresponsible about their sexuality. This vaccine is designed to safeguard young girls both sexually active and not sexually active from the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world today. The Center for Disease Control states at least 50 percent of sexually active people will get some form of HPV sometime in their lives. Every year approximately 6.2 million people get HPV. Also, many forms of the disease lead to a great number of women who could eventually end up with cancer. Why not try to prevent this? – JSO