According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 80% of Americans are infected with the human papillomavirus, also known as HPV, at some point in their lives. It would be as if 25 of the 30 students in that class suffered from or had had this sexually transmitted disease. A single group of offices in this class would be safe from its harmful effects. This is an incredibly common and potentially deadly virus, which is why we should make the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, mandatory for all teenage girls entering middle school. For example, one of the biggest concerns about mandatory Gardasil vaccination in young girls is whether or not the risks outweigh the benefits. However, when looking at the statistics regarding HPV and cervical cancer, the answer is generally very clear. According to ABC News, of the 25 million doses of Gardasil administered in 2009, only 0.05% of those doses were found to have side effects. And it must be taken into account that only 4.26% of the already low 0.05% turned out to be serious in one way or another. The rest of these side effects were symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, or redness on the side of the injection. While the supposed risk of this vaccine is questionable, the risk of the virus is not. 3 in 4 cases of cervical cancer are all due to HPV, and according to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 11,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in the United States and approximately 3,700 of them will die. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to prevent and stop these unnecessary deaths? The HPV vaccine prevents 70% of cervical cancer vaccines from developing and is considered 100% effective in protecting against these forms of cervical cancer...... middle paper......0% which are not. We need to go further with this vaccine than it already is. It is clear that providing access to this vaccine is not enough. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease, its vaccine should be the most commonly administered vaccine. The federal government, not just state governments, needs to make this vaccine mandatory for all girls entering college, otherwise we are just playing on fear. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We don't have to fear this vaccine. Let's not each be one less, but millions less! We fear what will happen if we let adolescent girls receive this vaccine. Will they get sick, will they become promiscuous? We don't have a definitive answer to this question. We have an answer as to what will happen if they don't get this vaccine. Prevention is better than cure. Be careful. Be protected. Get vaccinated.