Miscellaneous
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year in the United States, 33,700 women and men are diagnosed with a cancer caused by HPV infection. HPV vaccination could prevent more than 90% of these cancers from ever developing. SoutheastHEALTH reports that though the HPV vaccine has been available for more than a decade, the overall percentage of the number of girls and boys obtaining the vaccine is still low. In 2017, the national average was about 50 percent for girls and 42% for boys. In Missouri, it was far less, with 28 percent of girls and 11 percent of boys. Saint Francis family nurse practitioner Dolores J. McDowell states that the HPV vaccine is the only current immunization that protects against cancer. So, why aren’t people getting the vaccine? The Journal of Ethics described several reasons, including worrying that vaccination promotes promiscuity, fearing side effects, and suspecting pharmaceutical companies achieved FDA approval through corporate