Should Vaccination for HPV be Mandated for Teenage Girls?
Book: Human Biology – 2nd Custom Edition for SLCC
Issue number: 11 Title of issue: Should Vaccination for HPV be Mandated for Teenage Girls?
1. Author and major thesis of the Yes side. Jospeh E. Balog; Compulsory HPV vaccination is ethical, reduces harm to individuals and society, and produces consequences that are as good, if not better, than the alternative methods for preventing death and disease.
2. Author and major thesis of the No side. Gail Javitt, Deena Berkowitz, and Lawrence O. Gostin; The vaccine is a significant public health advancement and vaccinating girls before reaching sexual maturity is a fabulous idea, but mandating the vaccine for school admittance is premature and ill-advised.
3. Briefly state in your own words two facts presented by each side. Balog provides many facts in regards to polio and states the Salk vaccine was 80% to 90% successful in preventing paralytic poliomyelitis and the prevention rate achieved was 60% to 70%. He gives little facts about HPV, addressing that an estimated 46% of high school students have sexual by the time they graduate and 75% of young people are sexually active before they get married. Javitt et al states that child vaccination rates are meeting the equal-to or greater-than 95% in over half of the United States. Additionally, they also list all of the viruses that children must be immunized against to be admitted to school (meningococcus, Hepatits A, pneumococcus, HiB, rotavirus, influenza, varicella, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, DTaP, Hepatitis B, and polo).
4. Briefly state in your own words two opinions presented by each side. Balog states that all of the evidence (number of HPV infections, ineffectiveness of abstinence programs and lack of communication between children and parents) points to a compulsory vaccine. He also states that though preventative measures other than the vaccine are ideal, they are not realistic in combating HPV infection. Javitt et all claims that ignoring the statements made by conservatives that disagree in mandated vaccination is unwise and inappropriate. They also say that many women will never be exposed to strains of cancer-causing HPV.
5. Briefly identify as many fallacies (lack of reasoning or validity) on the Yes side as you can. The two most prominent fallacies in Balog’s argument are these: he states over and over that abstinence programs and quality discussion with parents are ineffective, but he does not present any studies or other individuals that agree with the statement, and most of his statistics about HPV do not have citations.
6. Briefly identify as many fallacies on the No side as you can. I am unable to identify any fallacies.
7. All in all, which author impressed you as being the most empirical in presenting his or her thesis? Why? I found the Javitt et al article to be the most impressive. They provided more information, more quotes, more sources, and they provided better evidence. The statements in regards to the vaccine itself were positive and gracious.
8. Are there any reasons to believe the writers are biased? If so, why do they have these biases? It was not stated that either party was related to the administering of the vaccine.
9. Which side (Yes or No) do you personally feel is most correct now that you have reviewed the material in these articles? Why? I feel I most agree with Javitt et al. The argument was not against the vaccine itself, but rather mandating the vaccine. In fact their statements on the vaccine were mostly positive! I felt this article to be more credible because of the sources and citations. I do feel the argument lacked pathos, but met my expectations for logos and ethos, unlike Balog. They also had a more optimistic view of parenting and society, addressing that it’s easier to allow the public to opt in to a vaccine than struggling with those that opt out.