Looks like some things never change. Catholics still impeding science and technological advances...will these backwards people ever start living in the 21st Century.
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CAIRO — A British Roman Catholic school has barred its schoolgirls from receiving a cancer vaccine, drawing condemnation from health officials for an "irresponsible" decision that may affect students' lives, The Times reported on Thursday, September 25.
"Governors have taken the decision not to allow the school premises to be used for this program," St Monica’s High School in Bury Borough, Manchester, said in a letter to students' parents.
The school will not take part in a national scheme that offers girls aged 12 and 13 protection against the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV), which is linked to cervical cancer.
The vaccine is given in three injections over six months.
"We do not believe that school is the right place for the three injections to be administered," governors at St Monica's said in a letter to the parents of its 1,200 pupils.
The school denied that the ban is linked to moral objections raised previously by one of the governors that immunizing young girls would encourage sexual promiscuity.
Speaking about the pilot scheme last year, school governor Monsignor John Allen claimed pupils were being used as "guinea pigs."
Irresponsible
The school's move was condemned as irresponsible by health officials.
"We are disturbed that the school is not allowing vaccinations on its premises," said Peter Elton, Bury's director of public health.
"We know this will reduce the number of girls who take up the vaccines and will put them at higher risk in later life of contracting cervical cancer."
Medical evidence indicates that vaccinating against HPV, which is responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancers, could save the lives of an estimated 400 women each year in the UK.
Each year, 2,700 cases are diagnosed with HPV across Britain and more than 1,000 women die from the disease.
Elton said that no matter what the motive, the governors' decision remains "unbalanced" and "unjustified".
"They [the governors] recognize it as a very effective vaccine but they have these other concerns and we think they are not justified."
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