ATLANTA - An influential government advisory panel recommended on Thursday that 11- and 12-year-old girls be routinely vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

Some health officials had prepared themselves for arguments from religious conservatives and others that vaccinating youngsters against the virus might make them more likely to have sex. But the controversy never materialized in the panel's public meetings.

A Wyoming immunization official said some Wyoming parents were upset when the Hepatitis B vaccine became recommended. But after several years, it became accepted as a good health practice and is now required for school children, said Katelyn Wells-Fahling, Wyoming Immunization Program official.

Parents still have good reason to caution teens against sex.

"There are other diseases you can get from unprotected sex," Wells-Fahling said.

She will be working to educate the public on the value of the new vaccine.

"It's a prevention and it's good to just be prepared," she said. "I personally just think it's a wonderful opportunity that in 20 to 30 years we can look back and see that we have tremendously decreased deaths and cancer due to this virus."

It will be many months before the vaccine for the HPV virus is available in Wyoming, she said.

First, the CDC must accept Thursday's recommendation. Then the federal government and vaccine-maker Merck will negotiate a contract, and the government will supply it to states and doctors. The state Legislature will determine whether the new vaccine will be required for school enrollment.

But thanks to a new law, when the vaccine does arrive here, it may be free for children and teens, Wells-Fahling said.

Historically a federal program made immunizations free to poor and otherwise disadvantaged children. The state, starting later this year, will now pay for vaccines for all children. An advisory board will determine how the program will be carried out.

The vaccine should be available, at a cost, from private physicians sooner than it will be available for free from the state through public health centers. And the state program will likely have a limited quantity, not enough to supply it to everyone who wants it right away.

In its decision Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices also said the shots can be started for girls as young as 9, at the discretion of their doctors.

The committee's recommendations usually are accepted by federal health officials and influence insurance coverage for vaccinations.

The recommendation involves Gardasil, which is made by Merck & Co. and is the first vaccine specifically designed to prevent cancer. Approved earlier this month by the Food and Drug Administration for females ages 9 to 26, it protects against strains of the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which causes cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers and genital warts.

Health officials estimate that more than 50 percent of sexually active women and men will be infected with one or more types of HPV in their lifetimes. Vaccine proponents say it could dramatically reduce the nearly 4,000 cervical cancer deaths in the United States each year.

The vaccine is considered most effective when given to girls before they become sexually active. About 7 percent of children have had sexual intercourse before age 13, and about a quarter of boys and girls have had sex by age 15, according to government surveys.

The panel focused on 11- to 12-year-olds in part because children that age already routinely get two other shots.

Star-Tribune reporter Barbara Nordby contributed to this story.