BRACK: A vaccine that can save women’s lives

By Andy Brack | A pat on the back this week to the S.C. House for passing a bill that will save women’s lives.

For seven long years, women’s advocates have been working to get the male-centric legislature to approve a bill that would allow the state to educate and vaccinate girls — with parental permission — to protect them against a virus that causes deadly cervical cancer, a disease that kills about 4,100 women in the U.S. annually. Every month, five South Carolina women die from cervical cancer.

“In passing the Cervical Cancer Prevention Act, the House proved that they care about cancer prevention and putting vital public health information into the hands of parents,” said Eme Crawford of the Tell Them advocacy network. “Most encouraging is that cervical cancer is preventable. By allowing parents to receive information on the vaccine, lawmakers have offered a new level of preventive health options to a generation of South Carolinians.”

The House voted 83-27 to approve a bill to allow the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to develop a brochure that explains the benefits and side effects of the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination for adolescent students and encourage parents to get their children vaccinated to combat the virus. Additionally, the bill would allow DHEC to offer the vaccine to children starting in seventh grade.

Some conservatives complain about side effects of the vaccine, but the CDC says HPV vaccines, licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, show no serious safety concerns as more than 46 million doses already have been distributed in the U.S.

One of the major vaccines, Gardasil, was pioneered in Queensland, South Carolina’s sister state.

Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie noted the vaccine is being used in more than 120 countries “and is saving the lives of thousands of women around the world every day,” he told Statehouse Report. “Anyone interested in saving women’s lives supports the use of the vaccine. Only ignorance opposes its use.”

In South Carolina, the vaccine for students will not be mandatory. Parents can decide whether their children should take it.

A March 2015 Winthrop Poll showed more than two-thirds of South Carolinians supported the proposal to allow DHEC to offer the HPV vaccine to female students entering the seventh grade and explain the vaccine through a brochure.

Advocates emphasize that getting an HPV vaccination, which protects against about 70 percent of the 40 types of HPV, doesn’t encourage sexual promiscuity. Rather, it’s a preventive measure to protect women’s health that simply saves lives and a lot of pain.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, HPV vaccination is recommended for 11- and 12-year-old girls: “It is also recommended for girls and women age 13 through 26 years of age who have not yet been vaccinated or completed the vaccine series. … Ideally females should get the vaccine before they become sexually active and exposed to HPV.”

“We’re educating people on the virus and the availability of a vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer,” noted Rep. Beth Bernstein, the Columbia Democrat pushing the bipartisan measure.

She emphasized that the bill did not mandate giving the vaccine to students, but required “informed consent” of parents. She said Gov. Nikki Haley, who vetoed the measure three years ago over funding, has reportedly said she wouldn’t veto it this year because the program would operate only if funding — generally from federal sources — were available.

The bill now heads to the Senate where chief sponsor Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said a similar version made it through the committee process and is now on the Senate floor for consideration.

“I hope we’ll pass it this year and start saving lives of women in South Carolina,” he said.

Let’s hope the Senate doesn’t get bogged down in a lot of anti-vaccination nonsense and put women’s lives at risk. Approve the HPV bill in short order to help parents understand the importance of the vaccination. If they decide against the protection for their children that the vaccination offers, they can just say no.