Florida bill would mandate HPV vaccination for all public school students
A bill has been filed in the Florida Legislature that would seek to vaccinate students at Florida public schools against the most common sexually transmitted disease in the U.S. – human papillomavirus, or HPV.
SB 1558, also known as the “Women’s Cancer Prevention Act,” was introduced by Florida state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Democrat, and would require all students ages 11 and 12 to be immunized, no matter their gender. If approved, the bill would go into effect on July 1.
Around one in four people in the U.S. are currently infected with HPV. That amounts to about 80 million individuals, with about 14 million people being diagnosed with the virus every year – many of whom are teenagers.
Per year, approximately 31,000 cancers are diagnosed nationwide due to HPV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that the vaccine could prevent about 28,000 of those cases from occurring.
Read more: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/01/24/florida-bill-would-mandate-hpv-vaccination-for-all-public-school-students
