When Australian schoolgirls between the ages of 12-16 in New South Wales were offered free Gardasil vaccinations, about 23 percent of the girls opted out of receiving the vaccine. While a NSW Health spokeswoman says that the rate of girls participating is "high for a new program with a three dose schedule," others believe that it reveals worries about the side-effects of the vaccine, which includes headaches and dizziness. A spokeswoman for the Australian Family Association also says that the vaccine program assumes that all young people have multiple sex partners (although the vaccine is given at a younger age for preventative reasons, not because they think that all 12-year-olds are at an immediate risk to HPV). [The Daily Telegraph]

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