The FDA has approved a vaccine for human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that is responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. Females between 9 and 26 can get vaccinated.

Will you get the vaccine? Will you get your daughter vaccinated? Should schools require that girls be vaccinated?

My girls will still be young enough though that we won't be talking about sex yet (dear, I hope) so maybe that skews my perspective.

In Texas the plan is to make the vaccine mandatory for girls in the 6th grade (and older). I hope that by the time your daughters are 11 or 12 years old you have discussed sex with them, at least on some level. Remember that many girls begin to menstruate before the 6th grade. It would be AWFUL for them to wake up one day to blood on their panties and have no idea what was happening. I have known women that had that happen to them and they were terrified.

If medical scientists came out with a 100% effective and safe vaccine for HIV and AIDS prevention, would any prudent parent say no to their child getting the vaccine based on the "mixed message" of sexual impropriety being condoned?

If the vaccine only worked if administered prior to puberty, would parents turn it down for their children?

Remember, in this hypothetical situation, the vaccine is "100% effective and safe".

In Texas the plan is to make the vaccine mandatory for girls in the 6th grade (and older). I hope that by the time your daughters are 11 or 12 years old you have discussed sex with them, at least on some level. Remember that many girls begin to menstruate before the 6th grade. It would be AWFUL for them to wake up one day to blood on their panties and have no idea what was happening. I have known women that had that happen to them and they were terrified.

Well yes, by 6th grade we will be talking about it, but they can get the vaccine younger than that. As soon as they are old enough whether we are talking about sex yet or not they will get getting it!

Remember that many girls begin to menstruate before the 6th grade. It would be AWFUL for them to wake up one day to blood on their panties and have no idea what was happening. I have known women that had that happen to them and they were terrified.

When I was a child, my parents had a friend who had daughter about my age. The parents did not believe in telling their children about sex. The daughter had her first period while home alone at about 12. She knew that she should put topical disinfectant medication on open wounds, so thinking she was bleeding from inside, she drank a bottle of topical wound disinfectant and died. I think it was iodine or Mercurochrome, but I am not sure since it was about 50 years ago.

Ok, in the midst of our discussion I thought I would share this. My grandmother who is 65, and lost grandpa a few years ago was just diagnosed Friday with HPV. My grandma met a man on Match.com her age, and well things progressed.... NOW dear grandma has HPV, and the Dr has told her it is the strain (one of many) that is an STD. She is having a very hard time understanding this, and how do I help her?

WHY is the HPV vaccine for those under 28?? We can all obviously get it, so why do the rest of us have to play Russian roullette with our lives? I am sure for many it many not be a worry since it is an STD, but what about the elderly women out there? Who start life over after loss of a partner in avery different world??

Kitty....that's terrible news about/for your grandmother. What rotten luck! The first date in 40 or 50 years and the jerk gives you an STD!

I think anyone is entitled to get the vaccine if they are willing to pay for it. The point being that if you are already infected, it won't do you any good. And by the age of 28, most people either know they have it or are less likely to be exposed. If I were to find myself single and dating tomorrow, I would get it.

You are right....they should market it to old ladies who are "suddenly single". Most of us have had less exposure than the average 20 year old!

If medical scientists came out with a 100% effective and safe vaccine for HIV and AIDS prevention, would any prudent parent say no to their child getting the vaccine based on the "mixed message" of sexual impropriety being condoned?

If the vaccine only worked if administered prior to puberty, would parents turn it down for their children?

Remember, in this hypothetical situation, the vaccine is "100% effective and safe".

My state requires vaccination against Hepatitis B, and that virus is primarily transmitted via sex. No one raised a hue and cry when it became a mandatory vaccine. I don't understand the difference between the Hep B vaccine and HPV, as far as promoting sexual behavior.

But to answer your question, of course I would endore a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. But you gotta remember....I'm a liberal.