Has your daughter had the HPV vaccinations?

[Lottie4]

My daughter is in Year 8 and we're just received the details from the school. Other than I know it reduces the possibility of cervical cancer, I don't know anyone who has had it or much about it, so just wondering if other parents have consented. Also, was your daughter okay afterwards?

[ashleysilver]

My daughter had them. I'm all for anything that reduces her risk of getting cancer. She was fine afterwards, didn't have any adverse reaction. AFAIK most girls at her school had them. Certainly all of dd's friends had them, apart from one girl who has had no vaccinations at all ever.

(Slightly wondering if I am brave or foolish for posting on an MN vaccination thread. Usually I avoid them.)

[gamerchick]

my daughter had them... she did get terrible aching joints after each one but that's all cleared up now.

[chocoluvva]

My DD had them and was fine.

[Travelledtheworld]

My DD also had the vaccination two years agowith no adverse affects.

[bumpybecky]

DD1 (now 15) and DD2 (now 13) have both had it. Their arms were a little sore afterwards, but a bit of fuss and a bar of chocolate helped :)

[dexter73]

My dd(16) had them and was fine. Pretty much every girl in my dd's year at school had them. Only 2 didn't.

[PestoSpookissimos]

Both of my DD's had them and I'm glad.

[motherinferior]

DD1 had her first one today.

[bruffin]

My DD had it and was fine as well, other than a sore arm.
There was a bit of hysteria among some of the girls beforehand but they were fine afterwards.

[curlew]

My dd had it. Felt suddenly faint after the first one, but there was a lot of teenage girl silliness going on. Fine thereafter.

[nomorecrumbs]

Aching joints? Is that a normal side-effect?

[MaddAddam]

13yo dd1 had it last year, 3 jabs, no ill effects.

12yo dd2 was supposed to have it a couple of weeks ago but the school lost our consent form so she missed it. Now there seems to be some complex form we have to complete and send somewhere, and then I don't know what happens, and I'm trying to motivate myself to bother. It's tempting to think, well she doesn't seem very likely to have sex for a while yet, she's not interested in boys at all so far.

Do you think if I just forget it the health authorities will chase us up and sort it out?

[motherinferior]

Simplest thing is probably to ring the school and get her into next year's cohort?

[curlew]

Dd missed her last one because she had a concert- we got a letter from the health authority telling us to go to the health centre, then, when we didn't get out act together, a phone call from the health centre.

[ashleysilver]

In our area they run 'catch up' clinics at a GPs surgery.

If it were me, I would email the school nurse and ask what she advises. It may be that they will accept your consent via email. If you can't find out the nurse's email, you can always email the school office and ask them to pass the message along.

[TeenAndTween]

Had it. Fine. No brainer.

[Helpyourself]

Both yes, no side effects.

[gamerchick]

I don't know if it's common. But a quick Google points to other stuff she suffers from like Insomnia and other stuff she's had since and she's 18 now. Hmm maybe I'll ask her to let her gp know next time she goes actually.

[gamerchick]

Joint pain . cleared up in a few months though.

[prissyenglisharriviste]

No - they wanted to do it when she was 9 and I refused. I just felt way too early.

[Lottie4]

Thanks for your replies. The info we have been given doesn't list any side effects, but does say the vaccine has been proven to be more effective if given when they are 12 or 13. Just wanted to get a feel for how other were thinking as I don't know anyone who has had it done.

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

Our SONS have had it, the Gardasil one (protection against 4 hpv strains). It cost us a lot of money but we felt very strongly about it.

If we had daughters and they'd been offered the other vaccine (the 2 strain one), we would have paid for Gardasil... As at the time, Gardasil wasn't available on the nhs.

For boys the issue is penile cancer and cancers of the head a neck (typically in the mouth/throat), as well as the genital warts. Rates of head and neck cancers are skyrocketing (and sufferers can be very young, 20's, 30's).

Some experts are calling for boys to be included in the free vaccination program, I hope this happens soon as we have two more DS!

[Groovee]

My dd had her first one last month. She chose to have it.

[MaddAddam]

I should try and email the school nurse, I don't know if they have one. We are keen vaccine attenders so I'm irritated at this letter we have to post (not even freepost), given that we'd signed the forms and dd insists she handed it in (she's very diligent about such things).
They text and email me all the time about random "important" stuff so I don't know why they can't text for emergency consent too.

[bigTillyMint]

DD had them.

There was mass hysteria amongst her tutor group for the first one, cue loads of parents picking up after. She did go to sleep and then complained about a sore arm for a few days. Nothing after the next two other than a slightly sore arm.