Reading the editorial about Gardasil now being required for female immigrants completely blew my mind. I don't understand how the government can do this and even begin to think it's acceptable.
Gardasil is a non-essential vaccine, and whether or not a woman gets inocculated should be personal choice. I am one of those people who personally decided, after researching the topic, that I won't get the vaccination. I can't even imagine the government telling me I had to get it.
How can a country that supposedly reveres personal liberties and choice possibly view this as acceptable? What's next? Not just immigrants are required to have it, but everyone?
Human papillomavirus is not a mass, deadly epidemic. It's not even the swine flu - it's an STD. Additionally, the forms that Gardasil prevents are all exclusively sexually transmitted (i.e. can't be contracted through blood like HIV/AIDS). Ta-da, prevention is easy.
Also, the vaccine is being required for girls 11 to 26. Eleven year olds? Really? As wrong as it is, imposing the vaccine on women 18 to 26 is one thing. Imposing it on an 11-year-old girl is something entirely different and a whole new level of wrong.
