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BURLINGTON, Ontario, November 1, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A national HPV pressure group is hoping to add another Catholic School Board to its trophy wall of Catholic boards that have caved into its demand that young Catholic girls be injected with the controversial HPV vaccine.

“The Halton Catholic School Board (HCDSB) is being targeted by those who wish to undermine the Church's teaching on chastity under the guise of women's health,” said Teresa Pierre, Ph.D., president of Parents as First Educators, to LifeSiteNews.com.

HCDSB will vote Tuesday Nov. 5 on whether to reverse a five year ban on the vaccine.

HPV Canada, which exclusively targets Catholic schools not yet offering the vaccine, calls vaccination in Catholic schools the “most accessible way for people of low socio-economic status to access the vaccine.”

“Accessibility is important because people of low socio-economic status are most at risk of contracting the disease the vaccine helps prevent: cervical cancer,” the lobby group states on its website.

HPV Canada’s tactics include inundating board members of the remaining boards not offering the vaccine with letters from “pediaticians, obstetricians, gynecologists, and other doctors and concerned citizens” advocating for the vaccine.

In the past year, HPV Canada successfully pressured 7 of 12 Catholic school districts in the country not offering the vaccine to now offer it.

Trophies added to HPV Canada’s wall in the last year include:

  1. Calgary Catholic School District, voted in favor of in-school vaccination November 28, 2012.
     
  2. Yellowknife Catholic School District, voted in favor of in-school vaccination May 15, 2013.
     
  3. Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools, voted in favor of in-school vaccination May 27, 2013.
     
  4. Christ the Redeemer Catholic Separate School Division, voted in favor of in-school vaccination September 24, 2013.
     
  5. Holy Spirit School Division, voted in favor of in-school vaccination September 25, 2013.
     
  6. Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education, voted in favor of in-school vaccination October 8, 2013 after the board voted against the practice February 2013.
     
  7. Red Deer Catholic Regional Division, voted in favor of in-school vaccination October 8, 2013.

There are five remaining Catholic school districts, including HCDSB, that HPV Canada is hoping to add to its trophy wall.

An HCDSB trustee admitted that a vote on the vaccine is on the agenda because a “lobby group sent us an e-mail and asked us to put it on the agenda.”

Experts from HPV Canada will present evidence to the board at the Tuesday meeting outlining why the board should begin lining up its female students for the controversial shot.

HCDSB flip-flopped on the HPV vaccine five years ago, first allowing its schools to inject grade 8 girls with the shot in the fall of 2007, then reversing course in June 2008 after parents rose up in protest. Parents at this time voiced concern over the severe health risks associated with the vaccine and over the mixed moral message that the vaccine sent their daughters regarding Catholic teaching against premarital sex.

The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), thought to be the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world, is known to cause multiple types of cancers, including cervical, anal, penile, and throat cancer. The vaccine Gardasil, which is approved for use in Canada, has been designed to prevent only two of an estimated 150 strains of the virus.

HPV Canada says the vaccine is “safe” for Canada’s children, but international statistics of adverse reactions including deaths, infertility, paralysis, seizures, convulsions, joint pains, difficulty in walking, paint an entirely different picture.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration received reports of 28 deaths associated with the HPV vaccine in 2008 alone.

The Japanese government was so concerned about the tidal wave of side affects of the vaccine reported by citizens that it recently ordered local health officials to cease administering the shot. Japanese cardiologist Dr. Sataro Sato reported almost 2,000 adverse events since the vaccine was introduced in the country in2010, 358 cases of which were evaluated as serious.

A group of women activists from India have petitioned the Indian government to stop the distribution of the HPV vaccine after witnessing how the shot has damaged their children.

“Some of the girls died,” the women stated in a press release. “Some suffered serious adverse effects. Some of the girls developed autoimmune diseases that would require lifelong care.”

The India women are demanding answers from their government: “The manufacturers themselves acknowledged adverse events such as anaphylactic shock, seizures and paralysis, motor neuron disease, blood clots, eye, ear and vascular problems and even death, and problems affecting the nervous system, the immune system, the musculoskeletal system, the blood and lymphatic system, the respiratory system, the gastrointestinal system and the vascular system,” the group said in the petition to their government.

In August, the British Medical Journal published strong evidence showing how a 16 year-old Australian girl was made sterile after taking the vaccine.

Dr. Diane Harper, a lead researcher involved in getting the vaccine approved, now suggests that taking the shot may actually do more harm than good. She says that according to the data available, the vaccine’s effectiveness lasts only five years, reducing its benefits while exposing young girls to all of the potentially dangerous side effects.

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“If we vaccinate 11 year olds and the protection doesn't last… we've put them at harm from side effects, small but real, for no benefit,” Dr. Harper told CBS News.

“The benefit to public health is nothing, there is no reduction in cervical cancers, they are just postponed, unless the protection lasts for at least 15 years, and over 70% of all sexually active females of all ages are vaccinated,” she said.

Catholic parents have three worries about the HCDSB approving the HPV vaccine: They are worried about the safety of the vaccine, about the mixed moral message about sex that taking the vaccine will inevitable send their children, and about the possibility of their children receiving the shot while at school without parental consent.

A petition to the board’s trustees urging then to maintain the board’s 2008 vaccine ban has been signed by over 1600 people.

Parents as First Educators (PAFE) is asking parents to tell board members their concerns in view of the looming Tuesday vote.

“The Halton Catholic Board needs to hear your voice,” Pierre wrote in an open letter to parents yesterday, obtained by LifeSiteNews.com.

“Do you believe a Catholic board should support abstinence before marriage in all its policies? Are you concerned that students will be able to receive the vaccine without parental permission, as parents have told us and as lawyer Geoff Cauchi has warned?”

“Please let Trustees know that you want your children to learn from their Catholic school to save themselves for marriage. If students see that their board has confidence in this teaching, then they will take it seriously. If they see Catholic officials not treating this teaching with the seriousness it deserves, then what example does that set for [students] looking to them for guidance?”

PAFE is encouraging concerned Halton parents to contact their trustee before Tuesday, asking them to support the existing HPV vaccine ban, and to attend the Board meeting on Tuesday Nov. 5 at 7:30 in the evening.

PAFE has reported that Trustee Ed Viana has spoken on both sides of this issue. “We need to encourage him to stand by our Catholic teachings on abstinence. Please share your concerns about the side effects of this vaccine.”

It is also reporting that trustee Paul Marai is for “overturning the ban” on the vaccine and that trustee Anthony Danko “supports keeping the ban”.

Sign the PAFE petition here to oppose HPV vaccine in Halton Catholic District School Board.

Contact info:

If you live in Oakville:                

1.   Ed Viana has spoken on both sides of this issue says PAFE. Mr. Viana is a father and grandfather.
     (905) 845-2761     [email protected]    

2.  Paul Marai is for overturning the ban.  He sponsored the motion to overturn the ban on same-sex student clubs in the Halton Catholic board.
(905) 842-3826 or (416) 300-0947     [email protected]      

3.     Anthony Danko supports keeping the ban.
     (905) 825-9159     [email protected]

 Find contact information for all HCDSB trustees here.

Tuesday Nov. 5 Board meeting address:

Catholic Education Centre Board Room

802 Drury Lane Burlington, Ontario