ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the title of Noam Chomsky's seminal book to draw attention to how the documents are not so much about informing parents about Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination as they are about compelling, or manufacturing, parental consent. Since its introduction in 2007, the HPV vaccine has become a more or less entrenched part of the public health immunization programs within Canadian schools, but it is not without controversy. The HPV vaccine is most commonly a three-stage doses injection program for reducing the effects of a sexually transmitted infection the human papilloma virus which has no detectable signs or symptoms and has been linked to cancer. Technologies of governing at a distance are consistent with a neoliberal political rationality that aims to reduce government costs by shifting responsibility for citizen wellbeing from the big bureaucratic structures of the welfare state to the individual entrepreneurial self.
