A bill that would have required children to receive at least one dose of the human papillomavirus vaccine before the seventh grade has stalled at the state Legislature.
Senate Consumer Protection Chairwoman Rosalyn Baker said the state will do an “education push” instead of mandating the vaccinations after community members objected to the proposed new requirement.
Some opponents of the mandatory vaccination plan worried the vaccine might carry a risk of adverse reactions or long-term health problems, while others argued the state has no business mandating vaccines for children. Others cited religious or cultural objections to mandatory vaccinations.
Baker said most of the push-back in connection with the bill came from people opposed to vaccinations because they suspect a vaccine causes certain health problems “when it’s been demonstrated that it doesn’t.”
“I think there’s a lack of understanding that this is cancer prevention,” said Baker (D, West Maui-South Maui). “I’m a cervical cancer survivor. I understand all of this, and I know that if I had the option many years ago to have had a vaccine that was going to prevent that cancer, I’d have taken it in a heartbeat.”
Senate Bill 2316 would also have allowed pharmacists to administer the vaccine to children between the ages of 11 and 17, and would have required insurance companies to cover the cost of the vaccine.
The state Department of Education opposed the bill, in part because it did not allow for medical or religious exemptions that parents are allowed to claim for other types of vaccinations. Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi expressed concern in written testimony that unless those exemptions were allowed, the vaccination requirement might “negatively impact school attendance.”
University of Hawaii doctors said last year that they were concerned about the state’s “alarmingly low” immunization rate for human papillomavirus, the nation’s most common cancer-causing sexually transmitted disease.
Nearly 30,000 cancers are caused by HPV annually in the U.S. An estimated 20,000 women die each year mostly from cancer of the uterus, while 9,000 men die from cancer of the throat or penis, according to UH.
In Hawaii, only 38 percent of females and 31 percent of males 13 to 17 years of age are fully immunized to protect against HPV, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I think we need a lot more education on this matter, and hopefully by providing some materials, it will further people’s awareness and understanding of why an HPV vaccine is important for both boys and girls,” Baker said.
