On an aside, tetanus is caused by a soil and animal feces-born bacteria, not by rusty nails. The tetanus vaccine is recommended for people who garden, camp, and who engage in other outdoor activities that put them at risk for exposure.

I noticed with interest that when I took my 10 year old daughter for a physical last month, the doctor mentioned the vaccine and asked if I knew about it. He said that for her next physical in two years, they would probably recommend she get it, and right now they are determining their protocol regarding the vaccine. I told them I was on board! Even though I am really sure she won't be sexually active at age 12 (what parent isn't?), why wouldn't you do it for future purposes?

When I was a child I was vaccinated at school for all kinds of things that I didn’t understand. Why would getting vaccinated against HPV be a license to have sex? Do we have to explain everything to our children in such a detail?

My daughter is 5 years old. Every time she has gotten a shot I just tell her its to keep her healthy and everybody has to have these shots. When I DO get her vaccinated against HPV it will be just another shot she has to get to keep her from getting sick.

I am not going to sit her down at the age of 10 and explain that this shot is to keep her from getting warts when a man sticks his penis into her vagina. It will be just another shot that everyone else gets to stay healthy.

When we have the sex talk I will tell her all about STDs, but why tell her that she doesn’t have to worry about this one STD? If I’m wearing a bullet proof vest I still have to worry about getting shot right? The vest is not all protecting.

I'm with you Linda. When I had that discussion with my daughter's doctor, she asked me what it was about afterwards. I explained that the vaccine prevents a virus that can cause cancer. How you get the virus never came up. If it does when she's 12, I'll tell her but I don't see why that would send the message that "now you can have sex" since if we're talking about sexual activity this is not the only thing I'll have to say about it. At age 10 however, she's not ready developmentally for the conversation.