Vaccination against cervical cancer/HPV

I'm really sorry your poor child has experienced this. Was this Gardasil vaccine? There is a tiny fraction of children who do go on to get POTS. I worry so much about this, I don't want my children to be injured.

I had HPV in my 20s but I cleared it as it doesn't appear on any of my cervical smears. From my understanding they let you know if you have the high risk strains. It's not perfect but at least you know.

I am hesitant for both my children. Again I'm really so sorry for your child and your family that you experienced this. My DD has a number of autoimmune diseases and I'm hesitant, even though there is no researched connection.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/genital-warts/

"So recommending vacc for most children at 11 is still slightly odd."

How would you differentiate which children need it early and which don't?

He'll be saying something different if he contracts penile warts 😅

@nooshoo https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7b362bed915d3ed9062e5f/Green-Book-Chapter-28-v2_0.pdf

It is correct and we were vaccinated for this precise reason

Yes, definitely. I was given the rubella vaccine at 11 or 12 in case I passed it on to a future baby. Never had such a baby so was a waste on me.

It isn't about the majority, which you sound obsessed with, it's about the outliers whom they'd like to be covered as well. Because yes, some children are sexually active around the age of 12, and they also deserve to be covered by this vaccine.

Whether or not we as parents approve of this has no bearing on the evidence that it is happening.

Yes, but in some countries you can get it at any age, even though it hasn't really been tested for older women. My 50 year old friend was recommended to have it by her gynaecologist.

Herd immunity doesn't apply - your daughters will most likely have sex with boys who haven't been vaccinated. Or older men who've slept with unvaccinated women. You have been badly advised.

I've just Googled - Why is the HPV vaccine given at 11? and it's all there. The reasons pp's have said and that the younger the nipper, the better they hold to vaccination so 11 has been decided as the best of all worlds.

Google is your friend.

Yes so they could revert to doing smear tests that don't look for HPV potentially. But the current type wouldn't be needed if everyone was vaccinated.

Better hope she doesn't get genital warts, which the HPV vaccine also protects against.

No of course not

I would be very sceptical of a GP who talks about herd immunity with regard to HPV. I would be concerned that, especially when discussing girls, they may hold misogynistic views.

The vaccination programme was started in 2008. Not everyone has had it below the age of 35, Most older people and some who were brought up in other countries won’t have had it. We are a long way from herd immunity.

Yes! Yes we were vaccinated against it to protect against catching it during pregnancy (or indeed, passing the virus to a pregnant woman).

Here it is given in year 8 and the second dose in year 9 so the majority of children are 12 or 13 for dose 1 and 13 or 14 for the 2nd.

Perhaps I should have quoted the post talking about Rubella and ages children were given this, but there was a conversation about it a page or so ago. The posts are moving pretty fast here!

I am old enough to have been vaccinated for rubella around that age and it was common knowledge that we girls were vaccinated against rubella so that we wouldn't catch it later while pregnant and risk our babies being born with sight or heart problems. I'd love to see your source disputing this.

No they said it was our choice completely that they understood our concerns and they always advise to vaccinate but to reassure us they mentioned about herd immunity.

They are both aware that they didn’t have the vaccine as it was done in school and they knew they were the only ones not having it so they are aware. They know what it’s for as well and read the info sent out. They also know it’s what their sister had done before falling ill and they know they are fully vaccinated for everything else and my ds actually said to me ‘I know for all our other vaccines you said it’s important so I trust you on this’

I doubt your GP advocated for your child not being vaccinated so that you can benefit from others vaccinating their children. They may have mentioned it but not promoted not vaccinating.

Your attitude is selfish and uninformed.

No.. the age of 11 has been perceived to be before the vast majority of children would be sexually active, since that's when the vaccine needs to be administered.

If they waited until they were expected to start being sexually active, then those children at the lower end of average age of first activity would already have become active, and the vaccine might be too late for them.

From the Greenbook. Which has several pages of references that the expert committee considered.

license
Cervarix® Gardasil® and Gardasil®9 are licensed for individuals from nine years old. Vaccination of girls and boys aged 9 to 11 years is not covered by the national HPV vaccination programme.

Schedule
Adolescents aged from 11 years and adults aged less than 25 years HPV vaccination is routinely recommended for all girls and boys from 11 years of age with vaccination offered in school year 8 in England and Wales, S1 in Scotland, and school year 9 in Northern Ireland.

I paid £450 for my son to be vaccinated as he missed the rollout due to his age si be grateful instead of questioning government policy.

Well, the fact you said that "you will" means that you actually haven't yet done so. Meaning they aren't aware of either the risks to themselves, or the risk they may post to others. Given this virus can be passed just by kissing someone else that's pretty negligent on your part. Also the only way to make them as them "as safe as they can be" is to give them the vaccine. You haven't done that. It appears you also haven't fully informed them of the risks, and their own right to get the vaccine if they want to - whether you consent or not. Maybe you should do some research into what happens when people get cervical; head/neck/throat; vaginal/vulval; penile; anal cancers and also make sure you know your kids see that research too so they are aware of what they are in danger of getting because they haven't been vaccinated. Louis Theroux did a documentary about end of life care involving a person who was suffering from anal cancer in Los Angeles a while ago: it was absolutely awful what that poor man was going through. If I could prevent my child from suffering that fait I absolutely would in a heartbeat.