It can be difficult to talk to your teenage daughter or son about sex. Discussing the topic can be uncomfortable even for physicians.
But when it comes to the HPV vaccination, we all have to get over our hangups.
Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that Hoosier boys and girls lag behind the national average in receiving the vaccination, which is administered in three doses, each separated by a few months.
It's been about a decade since the vaccine first was recommended for girls, and about four years since it was first approved for boys. It's not a mandatory vaccine for attending school, like the MMR vaccine. But it could be just as important.
The HPV vaccine provides teens with lifelong resistance to human papillomavirus, which can trigger head, neck, cervical, vaginal and anal cancer. HPV is transmitted through sexual contact; genital warts can be a telltale sign of HPV infection.
All of this makes for squeamish parents.
In Indiana, 44 percent of girls, ages 13-17, have received the HPV vaccine, compared to 60 percent of girls in that age group nationwide. Just 13 percent of Hoosier boys are fully vaccinated, versus 40 percent across the country.
The vaccine is approved for boys 13-21 years old and girls 9-26 years of age.
So, what can you do about it? Ask your pediatrician or family doctor about the benefits of the vaccine.
While it can be difficult for Hoosier parents to talk to their kids about sex, they can certainly relate to the idea that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — particularly when there's a risk of cancer.
And don't think HPV affects only the most sexually promiscuous people. In the United States, about 79 million people are infected.