A shot in the fight on cervical cancer.

Byline: Marsha King

Jan. 29--STEPHANIE SHINE persisted, despite her 13-year-old daughter's resistance to getting the new vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer. "For your safety? Your health? Your future?" Then Shine got creative: "What if you don't have to pay back the $20 you owe me?" At that, daughter Cally -- who hates needles -- agreed to be immunized, even though it meant three shots over six months. "I wanted to safeguard her as best I could against what can be a very pernicious lifelong worry," said Shine, co-president of the PTSA at Washington Middle School in Seattle.

In contrast, Sue Hoverson, a substitute school nurse in Shoreline, talked frankly with her 12-year-old daughter about the vaccine and said: "It's not required. We won't be getting it." Hoverson thinks not enough is known about the side effects. And, as a Christian, she promotes abstinence before marriage. "We know the pressures are out there," Hoverson said. "But we want to set the bar really high for our kids. Then they don't have to worry about getting these STDs."

Across the nation, parents are starting to grapple with what to say to their young daughters about one of the hottest topics in public health: a childhood vaccine targeted at a potentially deadly disease -- one caused by a virus that's contracted through sex. The vaccine's introduction also is generating many questions and widespread debate among parents, providers and…