TORONTO – Trustees at the Toronto Catholic School District School Board voted to allow nurses to administer the HPV vaccine in its schools.
The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops is not happy with the decision. In a memo given to school boards, they stated that there needed to be more research and education about the program, although it is definitely the “right and responsibility” of the parents to decide whether or not their child receives the vaccination.
Other districts have taken the memo into consideration. The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board unanimously voted to delay the vaccination program until they received more information from the Ministry of Health. The Halton Catholic District School Board barely passed the motion to participate in the program with a 4-3 vote.
The federal government announced a $300 million funding package to be collectively used by all provinces that decided to add the HPV vaccination to their free vaccination programs based in schools. This statement shocked public health officials who were waiting on the Canadian Immunization Committee to determine whether the vaccine should be publicly funded.
Some Canadian provinces immediately applied the program. At the recommendation of medical experts, girls as young as the 6th grade have been administered the vaccine before the girls become sexually active. The HPV vaccine only works if it’s given to people prior to being exposed to the disease.