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Comment by bananapub | Hacker News Reader

(some strains of) HPV already have vaccines, social conservatism is what is allowing much of cervical cancer to continue in the rich world.

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Please don't take HN threads into ideological flamewar. It's not what this site is for.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28211023.

Not sure exactly what you mean with social conservatism, but I'd rather call out misplaced optimism.

In the past the approch was to only target young girls before they had sex for the first time, which turned out to not reduce the spread of HPV as much as hoped. Only in recent years the recommendation changed to also vaccinate boys and increasingly also people with previous sexual encounters.

> Not sure exactly what you mean with social conservatism

"This is also why social conservatives don't like it when scientific progress makes sex safer or better. Sex outside of their ideal scenario (in marriage, at the husband's wish, for reproduction) should be punished, and steps to mitigate that punishment (STD prevention, pregnancy prevention) should be discouraged or lambasted as immoral."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/16/conser...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/why-the-pol...

Although true to a certain extent, it doesn't mean minds can't be changed, just as it is for any other population's negative perception of any vaccine. In my own church I've had this discussion with parents, and I know of at least one who changed their position on HPV vaccination. I credit them with giving the matter thought.

There was a lot of hoopla at the time the vaccine was announced, but other than that I'm not sure where you are getting your information? HPV vaccination rates are increasing, and there is almost no resistance at this point. The US vaccination rates are in line with Europe.

Same with the ones that destroy your liver.

Religion is a non issue outside of the US. The fundamentalist view on that issue would not just be laughed out of the room in Europe, it would result in aggressive reactions. The main hurdle is vaccine hesitancy, fueled by new age nonsense.

What about the middle east or Africa or South America?

He said "rich."

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