Welcome  to  Public  Health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. News  coverage  about  laws mandating  a  vaccine  that  protects  against a  potentially  cancer  causing human  papilloma  virus  may  lead  to  public  opposition. The  vaccine  is  widely  supported by  the  medical  and  public  health  communities. Yet  state  laws  to  require  young  girls  to  be  vaccinated  as a  requirement  for  middle  school  attendance have  aroused  controversy. University  of  Minnesota  Public  Health  researcher Sarah  Goals  led  a  study  regarding  this  issue. I  think  it's  important  to  understand  how media's  descriptions  of  controversy might  influence  opinion  about  vaccines. Because  we  know  that  there  have  been  increasing  outbreaks of  vaccine  preventable  diseases  like  whooping  cough. And  experts  believe  that  these  outbreaks are  caused  at  least  in part  by  parents  who decide  not  to  vaccinate  their  children. We  found  that  when  people  hear that  there's  controversy  over state  laws  to  require  the  HPV  vaccine  for  young  girls, they  are  less  likely  to  support  such  laws. But  we  found  in  our  study  that  describing the  HPD  vaccine  as  controversial  does not  lead  to  people  believing  that other  vaccines  are  unsafe or  unimportant  for  children's  health. Gals  recommends  that  journalists and  researchers  emphasize where  consensus  exists  on the  value  of  a  particular  vaccine. So  we  think  that  journalists  can  try  to emphasize  scientific  agreement  where  it  exists. And  health  professionals  could also  do  their  part  in  working with  the  media  to  describe where  there's  moderate  opinions, rather  than  only  describing  where opinions  might  be  particularly  polarized.