The state senate has moved to make sure thousands of parents of sixth-grade girls get information about the availability of a cervical cancer vaccine. The senate has advanced Jolie Justus’s bill requiring the state education department to send the information to all sixth-graders in public schools.
Justus says the information will contain information about the link between the Human Papilloma Virus and cervical cancer. But it will be up to the parents or guardians to decide if the girl should get the vaccine.
Justus ran into opposition last year when she tried to make the vaccinations mandatory. Critics argued the mandatory vaccination program would promote promiscuity. This year’s proposal makes the vaccinations voluntary.
For those with questions of safety, Justus says the track record is good. She says the vaccine has been approved for use in 80 countries and has been received by more than 11,000 women in the United States since the FDA approved the vaccine’s use in 2006.
The Senate could send the bill to the House before the end of the week.
Download Justus explaining her bill
