Backpack, check, art supplies, check, HPV shot . . .

Starting this fall, seventh-graders attending public and private schools in Rhode Island will be required to get the HPV vaccine. The shot protects against a sexually transmitted virus linked to various genital cancers, including cervical cancer in women.

Students who fail to get the human papillomavirus shot will not be able to attend school, unless parents provide a medical or religious reason.

The vaccine has been causing controversy because of the nature of the vaccine and the age of the children. Parents are banning together and taking to social media in the hopes to repeal the new regulation.

Linda McLaughlin, a Warwick grandmother, is against the mandatory vaccine and even started a petition. "Our main concern is this should not be a mandatory vaccine," said McLaughlin, 56. "It's not like the measles. It's not an airborne disease where you're going to catch it from another child. There are a lot of concerns that the vaccine hasn't been tested long enough."

Rhode Island isn’t the only state making the HPV vaccine mandatory; Washington D.C. and Virginia both require their students to get the shot.

For all those worried about safety, Tricia Washburn, chief of the office of immunization for the Rhode Island Department of Health, said the vaccine has been studied by the Centers for Disease Control and there weren’t any adverse outcomes found.

"The bottom line is that HPV is the most sexually transmitted disease in the U.S." Washburn said. "We are interested in protecting the public health. We feel it shouldn't be treated any differently than any of the other vaccines recommended by the CDC."

The immunization program officially begins this fall with both boys and girls in seventh grade receiving all three doses within two years. The requirement will expand to eighth-graders in fall 2016 and ninth-graders in fall 2017.

I have to say, I'm glad I don't have any children in the RI school system, because I would not be happy if my 12-year-old was being forced to have a vaccine!  I believe that's completely a parenting decision and I don't think the government should be sticking it's nose where it doesn't belong.  I hope Massachusetts isn't next.

Additional reporting by Victoria Meneses

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