In 2007, Texas governor Rick Perry issued an executive order
requiring that all females entering sixth grade be vaccinated
against the human papillomavirus (HPV), igniting national debate
that echoed arguments heard across the globe over public policy,
sexual health, and the politics of vaccination. "Three Shots at
Prevention" explores the contentious disputes surrounding the
controversial vaccine intended to protect against HPV, the most
common sexually transmitted infection.
When the HPV vaccine first came to the market in 2006, religious
conservatives decried the government's approval of the vaccine as
implicitly sanctioning teen sex and encouraging promiscuity while
advocates applauded its potential to prevent 4,000 cervical cancer
deaths in the United States each year. Families worried that laws
requiring vaccination reached too far into their private lives.
Public health officials wrestled with concerns over whether the
drug was too new to be required and whether opposition to it could
endanger support for other, widely accepted vaccinations. Many
people questioned the aggressive marketing campaigns of the
vaccine's creator, Merck & Co. And, since HPV causes cancers of
the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, and anus, why was the vaccine
recommended only for females? What did this reveal about gender and
sexual politics in the United States? With hundreds of thousands of
HPV-related cancer deaths worldwide, how did similar national
debates in Europe and the developing world shape the global
possibilities of cancer prevention?
This volume provides insight into the deep moral, ethical, and
scientific questions that must be addressed when sexual and social
politics confront public health initiatives in the United States
and around the world.
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