New Vaccination Guidelines, or, why Jenny McCarthy is likely to appear on Oprah again soon

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

More shots for the tots according to the new vaccination schedules from the American Academy of Pediatrics and others:

Boys should get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to protect them against genital warts, and all children should receive the H1N1 vaccine to guard against swine flu, according to updated guidelines on childhood and teen vaccines.

The new vaccine schedules — issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Family Physicians — also recommend using combination vaccines whenever possible.

via New Childhood Vaccines Schedules Released – Yahoo! News.

I’ve previously argued that boys should be given the vaccination for HPV as well as girls, as this is a sexually transmitted virus that can have significant consequences for both sexes, so I’m glad to see that particular item added to the list.

For those who are vehemently opposed to vaccinations this announcement will likely stir up another round of anti-vax outcries, and I’m not here to cast judgment on other people’s choices.  But personally, I’m going to have all three of my kids’ shots updated to reflect these guidelines.  Medicine is an imperfect science, sometimes very much so, and we have to make our decisions based on the balance of the evidence that is available in the context of each individual patient.  In this case, and for my family, I think the arguments in favor of the vaccinations are stronger than the arguments against.