It was recently announced that 7th graders in Rhode Island will be required to have the Gardasil HPV vaccine as a requirement for attending school. According to the Providence Journal: Starting this fall, seventh-graders in all public and private schools will be required to get a vaccine that protects against a sexually transmitted virus linked to various genital cancers, especially cervical cancer in women. Students who fail to get the vaccine for HPV — or the human papillomavirus — will be precluded from attending school unless their parents seek an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Vaccine Impact reports: The HPV vaccine has become very controversial, particularly outside of the United States, due to the large amount of injuries being attributed to the vaccine, and in some cases, also deaths. Sadly, parents are generally not warned about the serious adverse reactions to the vaccine. Locally, some parents are already agitating against the vaccine, saying it’s an intrusion by the government into private matters and that the vaccine’s side effects can be serious. But Tricia Washburn, chief of the office of immunization for the Rhode Island Department of Health, said the vaccine has been thoroughly studied by the Centers for Disease [...]