What Schools Should Do

Let’s start with a basic point: Medicine is a science. Certainly, there are disagreements within the medical community over its practice from time to time. But it’s generally a good rule of thumb to give credence to doctors and medical researchers when it comes to questions of medical prudence. Near universally, they support vaccines, as do the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics, and other health organizations. Critics are outliers — most are not even medical professionals.

In some local school districts — Southampton, East Hampton, Sag Harbor — there is an ongoing discussion about whether the school boards should take a formal position on proposed legislation in Albany that would mandate that all schoolchildren are vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection, some types of which can cause health problems, including cancer, sometimes many years later.

The thinking is simple: The CDC reports that 79 million Americans are infected with HPV, and another 14 million join that group each year. There is no cure. “HPV is so common that almost every person who is sexually active will get HPV at some time in their life if they don’t get the HPV vaccine,” the CDC website reports. And the vaccine is recommended for all children at the ages of 11 or 12 to be most effective, although it can be given as early as age 9.

This is what vaccines are created to solve — and have, wiping out many diseases that were once rampant. It’s conceivable that vaccines could one day eliminate HPV as well, if they’re widely administered. The CDC says the vaccine is provably safe, but there is a cottage industry surrounding any use of the word “vaccine,” using people’s natural skepticism and junk science to weaken the belief in vaccines of all kinds.

The Southampton School Board, in particular, appears to have fallen into that swamp, opposing the legislation by citing dubious sources. A Viewpoint last week by three Southampton graduates, all women working in the sciences, dismantled the argument and made the compelling case that HPV vaccines are, in fact, something every child should receive.

That said, there is a reasonable compromise here — and the Sag Harbor School Board found it. Setting aside the fallacious assault on the vaccine itself, there is a rational position against the state’s proposal to mandate the vaccine to attend school. Unlike, say, the measles, this is not an illness that can be spread by simply attending school, so there is no danger to justify such an aggressive move. It’s one reason why the measure has never made it to a vote in Albany, and likely won’t this time. Better for school districts to stay out of that particular debate.

However, there is one more thing schools absolutely should do: Listen to doctors, strongly encourage parents to have their children vaccinated, even consider providing vaccines through the schools as a community service. Ultimately, it’s up to the parents to decide; sadly, some will choose not to provide a basic level of protection. Schools can only educate and hope for the best — but they should do both.