26% of girls have had vaginal sex by the age of 15 and 77% by age 19. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection occurs in 50% within four years of the first sexual contact. HPV is thought to affect at least 20 million people in the U.S. with 6.2 million new cases each year. The infection is mostly silent with no obvious symptoms, but is also the cause of cervical cancer in an estimated 9,710 people per year and leads to 3,700 deaths per year. HPV is a sexually transmitted virus and is a silent killer. Although there are over 100 types of HPV, four of them cause 70% of the cases of cervical cancer and 90% of genital warts. A new vaccine is available (Gardasil) that provides protection against these four types of HPV. It is approved and recommended for routine use in all girls at 11-12 years old (before first sexual contact) and can be given as young as 9 years. It is recommended for girls and women between 13 and 26 as well. This vaccine has been found to be safe and effective in preclinical trials, but rare problems with a vaccine may not be seen until it has been on the market for a year or more. We will stock the vaccine for those who want it but will not encourage routine use until a more definitive safety track record is assured.

If you’re like us, these statistics and the prospect of vaccinating children as young as 9 years of age against a sexually transmitted disease should be a wake up call for most parents. The “not my kid” reply is a little naive. Everyone wants to believe it, but the statistics speak for themselves. Everything about our culture, peer groups, media input and changing family dynamics promotes sexual activity. It will take a much more radical commitment to sexual purity than most parents seem to be willing to make in order to have a hope of swimming against this current. You must start when they are young and realize that everything from the way your 5 year old dresses to the cartoons she watches and who she hangs out with is beginning to form her idea of sexuality. Your kids can not get HPV (or any other sexually transmitted disease) if they are virgins marrying virgins for life. If you are very seriously making this your goal for your children from an early age, we want to encourage you. Despite the statistics it IS possible to raise your children in such a way that they will most likely remain sexually pure. We will be offering the vaccine sometime within the next 12-18 months, but encouragement and hope is available now.

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