For decades the medical community has been searching for a cure for cancer. Billions of dollars have been spent, and thousands of lives lost while scientists around the globe dedicate their lives to trying to find a cure for this deadly disease.

After all, it’s at the top of the list for causes of death in the United States year after year, jockeying for the No. 1 slot although occasionally displaced by cardiovascular disease. But no one fears heart attacks as much as they fear cancer.

So, why would we fear a vaccine to prevent it?

Well, we don’t fear all of them. Hepatitis B causes cancer. In fact 80 percent of all liver cancers worldwide are caused by chronic hepatitis B infection.  It’s been estimated that 2 billion people are infected, one in three people on the planet. Hepatitis B is transmitted through contact with infected blood or body fluids, such as during sexual contact, IV drug use, or during birth.

These days vaccination is part of the routine schedule for babies. There’s no public outcry against it.

The deadly hepatitis C is another cancer-causing virus. Eighty percent of people who have it experience no symptoms, and 20 percent will progress to cirrhosis, which can lead to cancer.

Researchers have been working on Hep C for decades, in hopes of finding a way to prevent infection by vaccination. But still, there is no shot yet.

In recent years, a medication has been found to eradicate Hep C, but it costs $100,000 for a course of pills. That’s not cheap by any means, and it’s after the infection has already happened.

But mention human papilloma virus (HPV) and the vaccine to prevent it, and all of a sudden, there’s resistance.

HPV is the cause of cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, anal and throat cancer in men and women, in addition to being the source of genital warts. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hawaii has one of the lowest rates of vaccination in the nation, 38 percent of girls and 31 percent of boys ages 13 to 17 are fully immunized.

Thirty thousand cancers are caused annually by HPV, and yet, when given a chance to protect against it, people are mistakenly caught up in how someone might get exposed to the virus in the first place.

The HPV virus has more than 150 strains. After decades of research it has been found that certain strains are the ones most likely to cause cancer, and since July 2006 a vaccine has been available to prevent infection with the virus. The vaccination is given in a series of three shots, over six months, and once completed, protection is for life.

So, in an admirable effort to help prevent cancer, legislators have proposed Senate Bill 2316 and the identical House Bill 1910 that requires all students entering seventh grade in the 2017-2018 school year to provide documentation that they have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

The Senate Bill has a hearing Thursday at 9:45 a.m. in Conference Room 229 before two committees — Education, and Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health.

The HPV vaccine is required to be paid for by insurance, with no copay, and it can be administered by pharmacists, in addition to doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

What’s the problem with a cancer-preventing vaccine?

Sex.

Because some people still believe that you can only “catch” HPV from sexual intercourse, and what student entering seventh grade is having sex?

But here is the truth. HPV infection can come from casual contact, too.

Ever played Spin the Bottle in grade school?

Sex is not the only route for HPV infection, and once it’s there, it’s too late for the shot.

Why legislate a vaccine? After the measles outbreak in 2014 both locally and on the mainland, states that used to allow exemptions for vaccinations have restricted their rules, and have seen an increase in the numbers of children immunized. The hope is that HPV vaccine will see the same increases if mandated as part of an educational requirement.

Doctors have tried, some more than others, and yet we have failed to achieve adequate immunization rates nationwide, and Hawaii is still lagging behind.

All efforts thus far haven’t worked, and as a result, some of our young adults will grow up and get cancer, needlessly, because they weren’t vaccinated.

What could justify not providing the vaccine to an eligible child?

After all, if cervical cancer rates were to plummet, then the Pap smear, a semi-invasive test to screen the cervix, might not even be needed in the future.

Which would be easier? A preventative shot, or going to the gynecologist for repeat PAP smears for a lifetime?

Not to mention the treatment of cervical cancer. Removal of the cervix can make some women unable to bear children. For anal cancer, surgery and radiation represent another uncomfortable procedure. Penile cancer — you don’t even want to know the treatment for that.

So, rather than projecting our own prudish sensibilities regarding sex, maybe it’s time to just accept that HPV is a virus, transmitted through casual as well as sexual contact, that causes cancer and can be prevented with a simple shot.

If we had a cure for any other cancer with a vaccine, the lines would be miles long.

Why not for HPV?