Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common types of viruses in the U.S because it is transmitted sexually. It is also considered highly dangerous because it can cause the growth of different types of cancer cells. There is some good news because there is an HPV vaccine that received regulatory approval from the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2010, which means that the vaccine has been around for more than a decade. However, there is a problem.

Antivaxers are keeping their children from being vaccinated

The findings of a study recently published in The Lancet Public Health journal revealed that roughly 60 percent of all parents in the U.S do not plan on having their children vaccinated against HPV. This is alarming because exposure to HPV means that the exposed person is at a higher risk of contracting cancers such as cervical cancer, oral cancer, throat cancer, and many more. Researchers even believed that the use of the vaccine would help reduce the rate of such cancers that are triggered by HPV.

One might thus wonder why the parents are refusing to let their children get vaccinated. The most likely reason would be the fear of negative reactions or adverse effects in their children. However, if that were the case, then the vaccine would not have been approved by the FDA. Besides, the HPV vaccine has already been in use in the U.S market for more than a decade and there have been no results indicating any negative fallout from the vaccine.

The survey conducted over the matter revealed that there is no particular reason why many of the parents will not allow their children to be vaccinated. It simply comes down to a lack of trust. For example, 22.8 percent cited safety concerns, 16.1 percent said their children did not need it, 12.2 percent stated that it was not recommended and 9.5 percent said they did not know about it. It might thus come down to ignorance and lack of proper understanding of how vaccines work.

The findings indicate that this ignorance or lack of knowledge is the reason that many children are not vaccinated. In other words, the parents are putting their children at risk. The HPV vaccine might be the leg-up that is needed to reduce many types of cancers triggered by HPV.