This is not a normal scholarship question! So you’ll need to ask yourself: what are they thinking? I can come up with two ideas regarding that.

First: maybe the organization that grants the scholarship is partisan and they’re looking for someone who agrees with their narrow viewpoint. If you can go to the sponsor’s website or ask around and find out, then slant the silly essay toward their bias. Either it’s absolutely an issue of free will and parents should not be told how to immunize their kids, or it’s a pressing issue of public health and a tiny increased risk to individuals is worth it if people in general have greatly reduced risk of cervical cancer.

On the other hand, maybe they’re just trying to figure out if you’re good college material by seeing if you can write an intelligent, well-conceived essay about a controversial topic. If that’s the case, then approach it less didactically. Preview your own position, and then present both sides of the controversy fairly (one side worries about government intrusion and that the vaccine might have unknown side effects; the other notes that you must vaccinate before the girl is sexually active or it doesn’t work, and that if you don’t vaccinate many of the girls will certainly get cervical cancer from HPV and will die young), refute the side that disagrees with you logically, and conclude with your conclusion 🙂

Best of luck!

Should you force parents to basically tell kids that they’ve been immunized against an ill effect of sex, thus giving a false sense of security? Should you tell kids early on that they’ll have sex (maybe unprotected), which will be more safe because they’ve had an injection?

Clearly, there are issues with giving the injection that go beyond the health of a child after beginning to have sex. Giving the parent’s of a girl the CHOICE to give the shot as well as pluses and downsides of the shot is the best option. I know that there’s beginning to be recognized that there’s a high correlation between the immunization shots with infants and when Autism developes.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to give my daughter the “security blanket” of letting her think thats she’s immune from HPV and cancer just because she got a shot. I think IF ANYTHING, it should be part of a larger MANDATORY education program, so kids don’t believe they are immune from diseases and cancer. I also do not believe it’s smart to begin sex ed at such a young age and to make it an issue they should worry about.

But to answer the question directly, NO, the state’s should not require girls to be vaccinated against HPV if it’s not a disease that is a public health concern and is not spread by informal contact.

I have two thoughts on this:

1. I think freedom of choice is important, but that said many people don’t know what is good for them or ignore sound advice (for whatever reason) and cause themselves (and others) more problems later on.

2. If the vaccine is 100% safe from side effects then why not have it? I know there’s a bunch of people who don’t like being dictated to by the government, so this takes us back to point 1. However, shouldn’t we be doing what’s good for the majority?

Just my thoughts.

All the best for your scholarship essay.

this is implying that all girls are sexually active…and those who aren’t will be forced into something that they may not need ….

can there be any negative reactions to the vaccine?