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Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine would be a license for sexual activity at a young age
Some people may feel that vaccines are contrary to their moral stance. Vaccines may be perceived as promoting immoral behaviour or as having been developed using immoral means.
Moral concerns differ from religious concerns because even though morality may stem from religious beliefs, faith is not a necessary condition for developing certain moral positions. For example, people may oppose abortion for moral reasons without appealing to religious beliefs.
Moral concerns about vaccines often arise in the context of sexuality. For example the vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV) which is sexually transmitted may be seen to encourage sexual activity.
Moral concerns may also arise around the use of foetal cell lines in vaccine production or the alleged mistreatment of animals during vaccine development processes.
This theme occurs specifically in conjunction with the HPV vaccine. People may feel that the vaccine’s protection against a sexually transmitted disease will lead to sexual activity at a young age, or to having multiple sexual partners. This generates objections from people who perceive such activity to be immoral.
It is normal to be concerned about your child’s health, including their sexual health, and some parents are understandably concerned that if their child has the HPV vaccine, this will encourage sexual activity at a young age.
En dialog mellan patienter och hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal är mest produktiv om man förhåller sig empatiskt och ger patienten möjlighet att bekräfta de underliggande orsakerna till attityden, samt att man uttrycker förståelse för dessa. Därför är det viktigt att förstå attitydgrunden bakom personers uppenbara åsikter. Att bekräfta en persons underliggande attitydgrund innebär inte att vi måste instämma i detaljerna i deras argument. Vi kan till exempel bekräfta att:
It is normal to be concerned about your child’s health, including their sexual health, and some parents are understandably concerned that if their child has the HPV vaccine, this will encourage sexual activity at a young age.
There is research that shows that having received the HPV vaccine is associated with lower levels of sexual activity amongst teens.
A study of almost 300,000 girls over a ten-year period who had received the HPV vaccine in the USA reported that rather than increase sexual activity, there was a decrease from 21.3% to 18.3% in the total share of girls who had sex and that there was a significant decrease in girls under the age of 14 who had sex.
As HPV is predominantly transmitted via sexual contact, it is important that children are vaccinated before they become sexually active, which is why the vaccine is given at a young age.
Rather than encourage sexual activity, having the HPV vaccine protects your children when they do become sexually active. Explaining to children why they need to have the vaccine also informs them of the risks of sex and sexually transmitted diseases.
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