Document Type

Article

Publication Title

UC Davis Law Review

Abstract

In 2006 the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved Gardasil, a vaccine that prevents transmission of human papillomavirus (“HPV”), for girls aged nine to twenty-six. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease strongly associated with 4000 deaths due to cervical cancer in the United States each year. This sobering statistic means that Gardasil is one of the most promising medical breakthroughs in recent history. The vaccination is only effective if administered before a person becomes infected with HPV, which means before a girl becomes sexually active. School-based vaccination mandates are currently the most successful way to achieve widespread childhood vaccination in the United States and are also particularly effective in reducing racial disparities in vaccination levels. Vaccination mandates raise important questions. This Article considers the ethical, political, medical, and constitutional issues raised by vaccination mandates in the context of HPV vaccination and concludes that school-based HPV vaccination mandates should be adopted. To achieve the broadest protection against HPV, the vaccine mandate should be extended to boys, if, as expected, currently pending clinical trials demonstrate that the vaccine is similarly effective for them. Policies giving parents broad authority to refuse vaccinations for their children seriously undermine the effectiveness of any vaccination campaign. Nonetheless, for practical political reasons, this Article argues that the vaccine mandate should be accompanied by broad parental authority to opt-out.

First Page

1731

Volume

41

Publication Date

2008

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