The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services announced on November 29 that NH will become the first state to offer a cervical cancer vaccine as part of its Vaccines for Children program [read the press release]. The Vaccines for Children program promotes immunization of children under 19. To learn more about it, visit the NH Department of Health & Human Services' immunization page. Here you can find out what vaccines are required for school-aged children in New Hampshire, and read about the vaccines and the diseases they protect against.

Another good source of information on vaccinations is the Centers for Disease Control's National Immunization Program web site. This site includes vaccination schedules, guides for parents, information on state requirements, fact sheets on vaccines and their safety, Spanish-language materials, and much more.

If you'd like to see what the press is saying about the new cervical cancer vaccine, try searching the Health Source section of the EBSCO database using the search terms "vaccine" and "cervical cancer".

For more information on the vaccine and on all types of cancer, visit the National Cancer Institute's web site. The site provides a wealth of information for both patients and doctors. It covers treatment and screening, discusses causes and prevention, and has a searchable database of clinical trials. Cancer incidence and survival statistics are also available.

Published by the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine, MedlinePlus is a great web site for researching vaccines, cancer, and many other medical conditions. It includes a medical dictionary and encyclopedia, and serves as a portal to high-quality information sites such as the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.

Of course, you can also stop by the library to pick up a book or video on the topic! Here are a few books:
• Cancer made me a shallower person : a memoir in comics by Miriam Engelberg.
• After cancer treatment : heal faster, better, stronger / Julie K. Silver.