Rhode Island Representative Tells Health Dept. to Stop HPV Vaccine Requirement for Middle Schoolers

Rep. Justin Price, R-Exeter, is asking the Rhode Island Department of Health to rescind its mandatory requirement that all students, beginning in the 7th grade, receive the HPV vaccination. The Department of Health recently added the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine to its list of mandatory vaccinations for school age children beginning in the 7th grade. "I am singling out this particular requirement for a variety of reasons. Many of my constituents have expressed their concern that the decision to have their children vaccinated should be one that the state should not make for them. Excluding children from school for refusal to be vaccinated against a disease spread only by sexual activity is a serious precedent-setting action that trespasses on the rights of parents to make medical decisions for their children as well as on the rights of the children to attend school."