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The emotional battle over HPV vaccination in Alberta has flared up again, after Calgary’s Catholic school board directed parents to a letter from Church leaders that warns the shots could encourage pre-marital sex.

Under intense pressure two years ago, the board lifted a ban on administering the vaccine in its schools, implemented in response to the bishops’ views.

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But the senior clergymen’s letter was highlighted again in information packages distributed this year, as the province expanded the program to immunize boys, as well as girls, against the sexually transmitted virus — which causes several types of cancer.

Alberta and Prince Edward Island are the only jurisdictions to provide the shots free to both sexes.

This letter encourages fear, and undermines a public-health program that’s designed to help children avoid cancer

The Calgary board should disseminate only science-based health information and is misleading parents by pointing them to the Church critique, complained Juliet Guichon, a University of Calgary bioethicist who has long advocated for the vaccine.