Vaccinating pre-teen girls for the human papillomavirus &8212; a sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer and genital warts &8212; makes sense, especially if long-term studies end up showing the vaccine doesn&8217;t have side effects.

But saying the vaccination for HPV encourages sexual activities is like saying a vaccination for influenza encourages walking in and out of doors during wintry weather.

Changing air temperatures makes a body more susceptible to common winter ailments. So if a person has the flu vaccine, does that spur people to walk in and out a lot? Do you say, &8220;Honey, I&8217;ve been vaccinated; I&8217;ll go refill the birdfeeder&8221;?

No.

This is the same silly debate people had when the hepatitis B vaccine came out in the 1980s. Now it is given to infants, children and adults without second considerations. It is praised today as the first anti-cancer disease because it helps prevent the blood-borne pathogen hepatitis B, which can lead to liver cancer.

Moreover, even girls who abstain from sex until they are married women surely do have sex as part of marriage. It is true that they still are subject to contracting HPV, but by then they could be too old to get vaccinated.

The Minnesota Department of Health recommends that girls receive the vaccine. The federal Centers for Disease Control recommends the vaccine for girls ages 11-12, though notes it can be given for girls as young as 9 and women as old as 26.

The CDC says researchers are working to find if vaccinating boys with it will prevent genital warts and a few rare cancers and have indirect health benefits for girls and women. It could be that someday this vaccine will be another in the long line of common vaccines medical professionals give all children.