Anne Karpf: The state wants my daughter to be vaccinated, but I want to know more - The Guardian 1st March 2008

I like to start worrying early. You may be anxious about next week, but I did that ages ago and am already on September. Yet reading the parent message-boards over the past few weeks, I've realised that I'm not the only one worried about the HPV vaccination programme to be introduced into schools by the Department of Health in September. It's targeted at 12- to 13-yearold girls, and I have one. The vaccine, made by Merck, is called Gardasil. If it's administered before a girl becomes sexually active, it's effective against four strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer. Put like that, unless you're a Christian Scientist, an abstinence campaigner or an activist against "Big Pharma", why wouldn't you be happy?

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