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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to change my mind and tell the school I don't want dd to have cervical cancer jab?

304 replies

lowfatiscrap12 · 09/07/2012 12:49

Yes, I know there's another (very long) thread about vaccines.
I was going to post my question there, but thought it would be lost under twenty odd pages of replies.
Last week I gave dd1 (aged 12) a consent form to have all 3 of her vaccinations for cervical cancer.
Now I should point out that I am very pro-vaccination. All three of my dc's have had, after plenty of research and reading by me, all of their childhood vaccinations. I've read and researched and looked at all the pros and cons and am generally pro vax.
But I've been umming and ahhing over this one.
I've checked and it's Gardasil she'd be having.
I've looked at the reasons for and against it.
I decided last week that the benefits outweighed the negatives, but now I'm wavering slightly.
I'm 39. I didn't have cervical cancer vaccinations at school.
I had safe sex and smear tests.
I've read about some of the side effects of Gardasil and I'm now quite tempted to phone the school and ask them to destroy my consent letter. Or send another letter in. Or just keep dd at home the day they do the HPV jabs.
AIBU?
What does everyone on Mumsnet think about the new HPV vaccine?

OP posts:
Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 09/07/2012 13:54

If u dont want her to have it then phone the school :) my dd is only 5 so a way away yet but I do have concerns given that it's so new and all the complications can't possibly be known! I will be researching very thoroughly when the time comes! I allowed my dd the swine flu jab and still regret that given how ill she was days later. I'll never know if it was down to that or not but wish I'd researched more. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to do what u believe is right for your family whether others agree or not. You can always go private in a few months if u change your mind . Don't be bullied into it if you have doubts and they r valid then do what u think is right for ur dd :)

Zimbah · 09/07/2012 13:56

I am a long way off having to decide this yet, but if the jab only lasts 4 - 8 years then shouldn't it be repeated later as well? What's the point in only being protected until 20?

SCOTCHandWRY · 09/07/2012 13:57

Ladyindisgise,
WRONG! Gardasil protects against 4 strains of HPV, the 4 strains which cause almost all cancers of the cervix, anal cancers, cancers of the vulva, penis and about 70% of throat/tongue/neck cancers (and is very effective in protecting both males and females).

FoxyRoxy · 09/07/2012 13:59

I practiced safe sex, had all the usual tests before going on the pill with ex partners and them the same. I still contracted the HPV virus and I've had abnormal smear tests for the past 5 years. Your daughter could only have one partner her whole life but if that partner is carrying HPV then at some point she's going to become at risk to it. If you can reduce that risk then imo it's worth her being vaccinated.

I have an 11yo DS and if I could get him vaccinated then I would.

LadyInDisguise · 09/07/2012 14:00

that's the almost that is the issue here SCOTCH....

TheRhubarb · 09/07/2012 14:04

zimbah, they are looking into doing a booster for older women.

You see, none of this info is given to the girls who are old enough to absorb all of this and make an informed decision for themselves.
How can they act like sensible and cautious adults when we don't treat them as such?

SCOTCHandWRY · 09/07/2012 14:05

Foxy, as I said upthread, you can get your DS vaccinated (we did with our DS's, last year), but it will cost quite a bit (£300+), however it may be worth pushing your GP to provide it on the NHS, a few months ago there was a partial policy change..... they are currently examining the idea of offering Gardasil to boys as well as girl due to new evidence about the rate of male cancers caused by HPV.

Orlando · 09/07/2012 14:05

TheRhubarb has pinpointed it exactly for me. It's not the vaccine that's the problem but the way it's being given, without ANY (in my dds' cases) background information. My daughter was upset because she thought that by not having it she was at risk right now of getting cervical cancer - she didn't know that the vaccine was against HPV, never mind that HPV is sexually transmitted.

So long as you make sure your daughter is in full possession of the facts, and can then take ownership of her choices and decisions, that's probably the main thing.

NoComet · 09/07/2012 14:08

I think our DDs are quite intelligent enough to understand that the vaccine just acts as an extra tool in the battle against cervical cancer. I'm sure they know they still need to practice safe sex and have regular smears.

I'm certain public health campaigns will continue to say that too!

DD1 had hers, after a bit of plea bargaining, she hates needles.

We agreed she'd have her HPV and I'd let her off her flu one. She's on the list for ridiculously mild asthma and reacts really badly to them (gets a really painful arm for a week, HPV didn't bother her at all)

SCOTCHandWRY · 09/07/2012 14:10

Ladyindisguise, not quite seeing your point! If you prevent more than 90% of the cancers happening in the first place, and screening is still available for those in at risk groups, older women etc, why would the same number of people die? Even if you had very high mortality in the unlucky few who contracted it, fewer people would still die.....

seeker · 09/07/2012 14:15

And also- even if you do stilll have to have smear tests for the other 30%, so what? Smear tests show changes that have already started to happen. No the same as protecting against some viruses that cause some of the cancers.

AmINearlyThereYet · 09/07/2012 14:16

I would let her have it.

When you aren't actually dealing with cancer, it is easy to forget the horror of it, or to think that it only happens to other people. The websites discussing the vaccine are probably focussing on the risks/ disadvantages; and not spelling out the reality of getting cancer. I suggest you balance those websites by having a look around some of the other threads here - in, for example, bereavement and life-limiting illness; and the tamoxifen thread.

Yes, there are very many types of cancer, so the vaccine will only reduce your DD's risk of getting some sort of cancer by a fairly small amount. But when you are balancing the risks and benefits you need to have in mind not "cancer" in some generalised way but the reality of it as illustrated and described in the threads.

DilysPrice · 09/07/2012 14:20

Actually LID, if 75% of cancers were eliminated, nobody went to smear tests anymore and exactly the same number of people died I'd still count it as a win. Smear tests are uncomfortable and expensive, and more to the point they result in large numbers of false positives - thousands of women being scared and operated on needlessly every year. They do prevent some deaths but at a pretty high cost.

Also Gardasil may well wipe out genital warts, which would save the NHS millions and save loads of people unpleasant treatment.

TheRhubarb · 09/07/2012 14:23

What public health campaigns? I've seen none.
The NHS have left it up to the schools and just like most of sex education, the schools are failing to education our children properly.

So actually, most of them don't even know what cervical cancer is.

downindorset · 09/07/2012 14:26

I had my first abnormal smear at 21 and I've since had most of my cervix removed.

I do not have HPV.

Smear tests are essential from an age earlier than 25. If I had a DD I'd be focusing on smear tests and safe sex and putting less emphasis on the vaccine. Although I wouldn't rule out giving it.

Cervical changes also result from lifestyle choices like smoking and alcohol so education there is key too.

Dawndonna · 09/07/2012 14:32

Both of my daughters and my son have had it. I am extraordinarily angry that the NHS chose to only vaccinate girls on the basis of cost.
The safe sex mantra is just that, a mantra. The HPV virus is no respecter of safe sex. As has been pointed out, oral and anal cancers are on the rise, due to the virus.

Birdsgottafly · 09/07/2012 14:36

"What public health campaigns? I've seen none."

This must vary, area to area. Every statutory and health building in my work area has posters up and our Children Centre's, womens groups etc have all had talks on contraception, smears and the risks to health, once sexually active, in any way.

I have attended a anti natal appointment this morning and there were posters up. I attended the teen midwife and it was on the list of questions, with a recommendation to have the vacination, once my client has given birth.

Hopeforever · 09/07/2012 14:46

Friend developed arthritis after the injection.

I can't prove a link, her parents didn't peruse it but it made me think twice.

FoxyRoxy · 09/07/2012 14:48

SCOTCH I don't live in the UK, unfortunately.

RevoltingPeasant · 09/07/2012 14:49

Wait, can I just derail a minute???

Birds & others - are you seriously saying that the NHS refuses to do smear tests on girls under 25, even when those girls report abnormal symptoms and specifically request tests?

They tell girls in those situations to go private?

Have I got that right??? They are refusing basic check ups on the basis of age? Isn't that discriminatory?

AllOverIt · 09/07/2012 14:50

Lost one of my ex pupils at 22 to cervical cancer from hpv. She would have been missed as she hadn't started her smears yet. My best friend and sister both have hpv and have both had cancerous cells removed. My good friend has also had cervical cancer.

My pupil was a gorgeous, smiley lovely girl and died a horrible death.

My DD will be having it.

seeker · 09/07/2012 14:50

No. Your friend had the injection. Full stop. Your friend developed arthritis. full stop.

Unless you have any evidence that there is a link, that is a very irresponsibly thing to say.

Hopeforever · 09/07/2012 14:55

Seeker, thing is, if we follow that line of thought there would not be progressing medicine.
I stated I couldn't prove a link, but having had a very bad reaction to a vaccine 20 years ago that has forced me to spend over 8 of the last 20 years fighting illhealth I think we need to know the facts. I only made a real link with the vaccine when I discovered other people who were I'll as a result too.

Try looking at

truthaboutgardasil.org/

I am in no way saying that the vast majority of girls will be harmed. But with a family history of reaction to vaccines I'm wary

MarysBeard · 09/07/2012 14:57

What's wrong with Gardisil?

TheRhubarb · 09/07/2012 14:58

So Birds, where are the posters where teenage girls will see them? Because half the places you mentioned aren't on every teenage girls 'places to go' list. Why aren't there ads on the TV, internet and posters up in schools?

Why aren't schools being told to educate our youngsters properly about ALL the risks of STIs?

And FWIW I was a virgin until my mid-twenties. Every time I went to the GPs I was told I needed a smear. Every fecking time. It was as if they didn't believe I was a virgin. And this was quite a while ago.

I didn't even know what a bloody smear was or why they were so keen to do them.

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