HPV vaccine uncertainties

[Vaccidilemma]

My daughter (12) has been offered the vaccine at school in the coming weeks.

I have always been of the view that she should take the vaccine, she has had all of her childhood vaccines and I’ve seen evidence of significantly lower rates of cancer in younger 20-30 year olds.

Right so my issue now is that my partner is of the opposing view that he is concerned about the adverse effects and has been led to believe that it will lead to some quite nasty long term irreversible issues. I’ve had a look online and I’m also seeing anecdotal evidence of these issues so I’m also now uncertain. I realise that we are only going to hear about the people who have had problems and that these are more vocal, especially within the anti vax community.

I want to protect her against this horrible disease but what if she is one of the few who do experience problems?

has anyone delayed it for similar reasons?

has anyone paid privately when they are no longer eligible to receive it on the NHS? If so, how much and did you have any obstacles in being able to get it?

Does anyone regret their decision either way?

AiBU to ask?

thank you

I’d have paid for my son to have it if he hadn’t been included.
like a previous poster did.
as well as protecting any partners they may have, it’s mouth, throat, penile, anal. Doesn’t matter if they are gay, bi or heterosexual it can protect them and their partners.

imagine years to come your daughter inlaw has to have treatment which you may have been able to prevent.

the crux of it is, if enough can have it we can protect a massive chunk of the population. That’s got to be a good thing?

i am incredibly sorry it happened to her

My eldest son had it, no problems.

Second son had it and just experienced a bit of nausea and a lot of jab site pain.

My daughter will be next when she’s old enough.

I didn’t get my daughter hers, after discussing it with her. I know personally of 2 people affected by it, and I know it’s anecdotal because the doctors are reluctant to admit it but they both literally changed within a day or two of the vaccine. One of them has really significant issues because of it. The other isn’t as bad but still affected. I’m also aware of a more ‘vocal’ person on FB who is significantly adversely affected too.

My reasons for not getting her it were/are because I have ME/CFS/Fibro (which some of the vaccine injury symptoms I’m aware of are similar to) and my daughter was going through a hard time at that time, with pain etc. This was later diagnosed as hypermobility. At the time I was petrified she’d end up like me and that the vaccine would trigger it. My son’s been offered his and I’m still unsure.

I’m/we’re (as a family) not and never have been against vaccines up until this. We’re all fully vaccinated against everything else.

I’ve just recently had my first smear test at 26 (couldnt go at 25 as I was pregnant), and I was SO anxious and convinced I had cervical cancer due to certain symptoms. I couldn’t remember if I’d had the vaccine in school and the absolute relief I had when my mum reassured me I’d had it made me feel so much better!
I completely get being anxious around vaccines, I have 6 and every time I took them I was so worried about them having a reaction, but I always told myself I’d feel so much more guilt if they’d ended up with something life threatening that I could of prevented x

I only know I would do a lot of research myself first before getting it. Like I would now for any vaccine. I’m not anti vax. Just anti-bullshit and pro making informed choices.

Agree with @Cherchezlafemme77 - unless you are working in a clinical trial, or you are a doctor working in the field - what is the research you can do? I'm genuinely interested in where you would look, I would assume you would look for peer reviewed medical trials, and read medical journals - or did you mean you would do some googling for half a day?

No hesitation letting my daughter have it and as they didn't offer it to boys then I paid for his (£300) at 13.
From the NHS website: The most common side effects (between 1-10% is itching and soreness around injection site, nausea and feeling hot.
Rare (.1%) is a rash.
Very rare (.01%) is shortness of breath.
These happen shortly after injection and child can be monitored.
The benefits? Protection against six types of cancer and genital warts.
No brainer.

Please also consider other cancers in your decision. I have many patients, both male and female, diagnosed with anal cancer which has proven to be HPV-mediated cancer.

G would you refuse a vaccine for lung cancer? Skin cancer?
Don’t be so bloody stupid. If this is a genuine thread, get your child vaccinated.

I think sadly Covid has caused a huge amount of distrust in vaccines,I can understand why as the policy of giving Covid vaccines to children was often more for other peoples benefit then their own, unfortunately more people are now refusing hugely important childhood vaccines that are of direct benefit to the child. This is such a golden opportunity to drastically reduce the incidence of many hpv related cancers but a lot of targeted education is needed to change peoples mindset.

You must have missed the part at the end of that specific paragraph when I said I realise you are not going to hear about the cases where there was no issues. As have many other posters 🤦‍♀️@Lcb123

Hi, I am pleased to say my child and I discussed this and we went to the clinic to get vaccine today.

my MIL can get lost with her anti vaccine articles

I know you've made a decision but is he her dad?

I ask because if he is, then presumably he was around when she was born and vaccinated as a child so you can make an informed decision on whether he truly has valid concerns and might benefit from raising them with the family GP before talking to his daughter about it or whether he is just your boyfriend who has an opinion. I don't wish to sound dismissive but if it's the former, I might entertain ways to understand his views and whether there is any credibility to them. If its the latter and he's not her dad, a) his view is irrelevant and b) I think its more likely he has just previously concealed his activation conspiracy views.

He’s her Dad. The belief in conspiracy theories started during covid when his Mum and sisters went crazy over what was happening. Since then they just keep on getting deeper into the rabbit hole of anti science and NHS beliefs.

the most difficult thing was being an NHS worker myself, the scrutiny and questions they put me through during the height of the pandemic.

i have spoken to doctors with whom I work and obtained statistics and data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and he has had no argument against them, so he knows but won’t admit he was wrong to fall into the trap of his Mum’s beliefs

Crikey. Is it just vaccines and conspiracy stuff that's cropped up? And is he basically following them down any rabbit warren or os he leading some of this?

Very stressful for you x

I'm glad you were able to make a decision that you feel comfortable with. DD had it and we paid for our boys to have it privately as they weren't eligible at the time. My mum's a GP and she was the one who initially suggested it as they were only just realising they should be giving it to boys too.

It's more effective when given earlier, so I wouldn't delay it personally.

The risk of side effects exists for all medicines, but these are precisely the kinds of issues the NHS takes into account before deciding whether to roll out preventative programmes like this. The risk of possible side effects is very much lower than the risk of the issues the vaccines are designed to prevent.

I took it privately because I was outside the NHS age groups when it was rolled out - 3 injections at £150 each when I did it (long time ago now!)

Yeah very stressful. I’m just nervous if she has any adverse reactions and husband will be like I told you so.

My MIL jumps on any bandwagon which is against what the government/WHO/NHS recommends and is on all sorts of crazy Facebook and telegram groups

She keeps on trying to force fluoride free toothpaste on my children, unpasteurised milk etc and believes in chemtrails and flat earth.

In an ideal world I’d go non contact for me and the children but husband wouldn’t allow it. And whilst she still has an influence in their lives I need to make sure my kids are safe.

it has been a stressful past 5 years, I needed to take time off with stress in 2021 when they were going to make it mandatory for NHS workers to have the covid vaccine because of how they harrassed
me about it.

My husband is greatly influenced by her, none of this behaviour was apparent before we had children and if I’d have known then, things would be different now and decisions I made would be different

Just glad I stood up to him on this

I paid for it privately in my late 20s when I had just started sleeping with people dating (I had had one long term partner before then and we'd lost our virginity to each other!) I really regretted not getting it before sleeping with anyone as I did have a smear test that needed more investigation due to an hpv (I later found out the then boyfriend had an ex who had had cervical cancer and a hysterectomy, so may have been caught from him but literally could have been from anyone as condoms don't protect). I got tested privately to find out which hpv and decided to get the injection to protect against the other types that usually case cancer. The nhs consultant told me that the vaccine can actually support to fight against existing hpv injection too which I found interesting - not so much that they offer it as treatment, but in the sense of it will probably help. The hpv seemed to go away .
Since then only clear smears despite sleeping with many more men in the last decade.

Ps no side effects whatsoever but £450 was a big hit in my 20s so wish I'd got it for free!

it's not just cervical cancer it offers protection from it's also throat cancer and anal cancer, possibly more types of cancer too. Having recently been attending a well known cancer hospital with a friend who has throat cancer caused by hpv i was shocked at how common this type of cancer is and I wouldn't hesitate to get any dc vaccinated. I only wish the vaccine would have been available for my generation. I discovered that you can have the vaccine upto age 45 unfortunately I was 46 at the time.

My son had it recently. I'd forgotten I'd even consented to it! He just came home from school and mentioned he'd had it. No side effects. I didn't really give it a second thought. The only thing that made me a tiny bit uncomfortable was that my son is so young and sex hasn't entered his yet. He's pre-puberty, not a fan of girls yet, and I felt a bit uncomfortable for a minute or two thinking about the need for this vaccine in such a young teen. But then I have my head a wobble and all is well now!

You mil believes the earth is flat!??? Is she not curious to walk to the edge??

I would love to speak to her! I have never ever met anyone that truly believes this! Fascinating!!