Tufts University Health Services is in its second week of offering Gardasill, a newly approved vaccination for the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
Gardasill, manufactured by Merck & Co., is a vaccine intended to prevent the types of HPV that lead to cervical cancer and genital warts in women and girls between the ages of nine and 26.
Tufts Medical Director Dr. Margaret Higham said that a wide range of sexual activities expose women to HPV. She sees the vaccine as a significant advancement in women's health.
"Seventy-five percent or more of sexually active young adults have HPV," Higham said. "Being sexually active - not even just intercourse, but any type of genital-to-genital contact and hand-to-genital contact - puts you at risk."
Dr. Higham encourages as many girls as possible to get the vaccine but acknowledges that its cost is a barrier to many students. Health Services charges $140 per shot, and students must get three shots for the complete vaccination.
Insurance companies have not yet decided how they will cover the expense of the drug, but despite the hefty price tag, some students feel that their health is well worth the cost.
"This is basically revolutionizing how the medical field views sexually transmitted infections (STIs)," senior pre-med student Sally Greenwald said.
Dr. Higham hopes that the new vaccine will lay the groundwork to raise girls' consciousness about sexual health.
"You want to give [the vaccine] to kids well before they are sexually active," she said. "It will be interesting to see if it increases communication and conversation about sexually transmitted infections and safe-sex behavior."
The promotion of the drug to middle school-aged girls has sparked controversy among evangelical Christians and religious conservatives who fear that girls will consider the vaccine a replacement for using condoms and that it will encourage sexual promiscuity and unsafe sex among younger girls.
Tufts students on both ends of the political spectrum, however, laud the vaccine.
Sophomore Amy Rabinovitz, who sits on the Board of College Republicans, said that the prevention of cervical cancer should take priority in this argument.
"It's ridiculous to say that the vaccine is a bad idea, because cervical cancer prevention outweighs the concern for giving young females less of a consequence for unsafe sex," she said.
The goal is for girls to get the vaccination before they become sexually active, said Senior President of Tufts College Democrats Kayt Norris.
"I think it's good that the doctors are targeting younger girls, as opposed to just crossing your fingers that they haven't had unprotected sex yet," she said. "In a case like this, people aren't split among party lines."
To best avoid controversy, Dr. Higham said that most doctors will emphasize the drug's role in guarding against cancer rather than in preventing STIs.
"They are going to focus on the fact that it prevents cancer - which it does - and that is more socially acceptable and easier for a parent of a pre-adolescent kid to hear," she said.
While women suffer the consequences of HPV, men can be silent carriers who unwittingly infect their partners, since they often display no physical symptoms. Senior Jay Solomon expressed his interest in "any advancement that helps to prevent the spread of diseases and viruses [and] that can make sex safer."
