Holy Spirit will offer the HPV vaccine

Girls in grade five that attend schools in the Holy Spirit School Division will now be able to receive the HPV vaccine. Gardisil protects agianst HPV or human papillomaviruses. It’s a sexually transmitted disease that causes about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

“I think it’s a great decision by school board. We are offering something to prevent cancer and we don’t have a lot of things we can offer to prevent cancer,” says Rick Siemen’s the pharmacy manager at London Drugs.”It’s very safe and it’s great to hear these children will have the opportunity to be protected.”

The school board decided to allow the vaccine in June 2008, but that motion was rejected after Alberta bishops say it was not allowed in catholic schools. The vaccine was seen to have moral implications for church teachings on sexual activity. “We know the risk factors for contracting HPV are sexual in nature and go against the catholic church but at the end of the day our girls can make those right decisions,” says Sandra Dufresne the chair of the Holy Spirit school board.

Nothing changed until last fall when the Calgary Catholic school district reviewed its policy in light of recent medical studies. The board eventually decided to allow the vaccine . The holy spirit school board says it revisted the issue after receiving dozens of letters, even from cancer survivors and the impact that HPV has had on their life. “The communication from parents was well thought out and researched. The board took notice of that,”adds Dufresne.

The Holy Spirit school board says one of the main reasons it’s offering the HPV vaccine is assessibility. After reviewing stats from Alberta Health it revealed the girls in it’s division getting immunized was extremely low. The division has contacted Alberta Health services to ensure the vaccine will be available this school year, but Holy Spirit says it’s still a parent choice.