Adolescent girls are not more likely to engage in sexual activity after receiving a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, according to a new study.
Last year, a Catholic school in Canada made headlines when it banned free HPV vaccinations for girls on orders from Bishop Frederick Henry. The bishop said giving the vaccine to girls promoted promiscuity.
But those concerns are unwarranted, the study has found.
Researchers in England found that adolescent girls who had been vaccinated, were no more likely to have changed their condom use or increased their total number of sexual partners than those who were unvaccinated.
The sexually-transmitted disease can cause genital warts and cervical cancer. Nearly 4,000 women die from cervical cancer every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.