Vaccination against cervical cancer/HPV

[nooshoo]

This vaccination protects against a sexually transmitted virus which can lead to cancer and other problems. Does anyone know why is it recommended as standard for children from 11 years, is it because there is perceived realistic risk of sexual contact occuring from this age?

It's a one dose vaccine now.

Has the age been changed? It used to be year 8, so 12-13 year olds. Are they now giving it at 11 or is this entire thread predicated on an incorrect fact?

Either way, your kids should have it.

One dose now unless you're immunocompromised.

My year 8 had it last week.

And also yes it should be assumed that specifically to HPV, as it can be caught through kissing and close skin to skin contact, 11 and under is a good age to protect against this. I personally didn’t start my period until I was 15, so had zero interest in sexual activity before that. Once my periods started I certainly was interested! In the 1920s on average in the uk girls started their periods aged 14-15, compared to 2025 which is on average aged 12 but as young as 8!

Wow you are being pretty agro about this - you clearly have already decided that this is the answer, so why are you asking? Furthermore the majority of answers you've received have stated that the reason is 1) Vaccine effectiveness based on studies; 2) Year 8 is the year they get the vaccine - which is 12 years old for the most part, not 11; 3) HPV can be transmitted through intimate - not necessarily sexual contact. Do kids start having boyfriends/girlfriends at that age? Of course! Do they try kissing each other? Yup! Are some of them more sexually advance? Of course. Does that mean they are all sexually active? Of course not.

There are no doubt plenty of peer reviewed scientific studies that back the Government/NHS's decision to offer the vaccination in Year 8 - all that information is available online - go read it.

@rebmacesrevda has beaten me to posting the Green Book!

Rubella immunisation for 11 to 14 year olds was introduced in 1970! The JCVI minutes discussing its introduction are available on the National Archives website.

Remember one shot doesn't cover them and they will also need a booster to be covered which they get about 1-2 years later and then their immunity needs to build.

Green book says “from 11” so may vary across the country. And of course a lot of year 7s are 11 for much of the year.

Thread premise is batshit, though.

No. Literally no-one has said this. The vaccine works best by being given before they become sexually active and age 11 has been perceived to be the best age so that the immune system has time to do it’s thing and provide maximum protection. And it’s not just a single jab vaccine - there is a booster a couple of years later, so again, time needs to be allowed for immunity to build before sexual activity starts.

No, why are you being weird? There might be some that will start young or experience abuse. This is one protection we can put in place.

And not all sex is consensual.

Bloody hell. 8/9 year olds are not “engaging” in sexual activity.
That’s CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE!!

In Wales it’s given in year 8, so age 12/13.

At this age (unless immunocompromised) only one dose is needed.

It’s given then before the vast majority will be sexually active and before more doses are required.

it all seems very sensible and straightforward to me.

I never even got it at school and wish I had! And I will have my child vaccinated for it (still a baby). I don’t even know if aged 11 is incorrect or correct from the OP to be fair but I think that’s the whole point. Seems to be just assumed this is an age picked due to sexual contact but you can pay private for it in the UK from aged 9. Think logistically the UK have picked year 8 to do this to blanket cover that age group, which is great and practical of the government I think 🤷🏼‍♀️ much more to it than just picking an age they’re assuming kids are sexually active though as the OP seems to think!

You bring up HSV (Herpes - yay cold sores!!!): the inconvenient truth is that the vast majority of people have that infection - same as most adults have the Epstein Barr virus (the one that causes glandular fever/mono). The fact that you don't have cold sore breakouts doesn't mean you aren't a carrier of the virus. And, as with HPV (the same type of virus family that can cause warts on your feet), HSV also has different strains (the one that causes cold sores on your mouth is somewhat different from the one that causes genital sores) - the point being that you cannot assume that people don't have it just because they don't have a breakout. Most of us do, in fact, have it - which is why it's a good idea to for example, not allow people of any age to kiss your baby when baby is newborn and their immune system isn't all that strong yet: dealing with an initial HSV infection when you are 2 days old because Grandma decided to kiss you by the mouth while having a "tingle" on her lip is pretty damn awful (babies can die from it) - so it's entirely appropriate for adults to take measures to prevent inadvertent transfer of these illnesses.

Bringing this back to the HPV vaccine: the OP clearly wants to allege that the NHS is encouraging sexual behaviour/contact between children. They have now been told that HPV can be transmitted through non-sexual contact, and they have also been told that the best place to find information on the NHS's reasoning for offering the jab starting at age 12 can be found on the NHS's own website. If they continue to try to claim that the NHS is offering it because of assumed sexual contact starting at age 12 they clearly have an agenda that contradicts objective evidence. Ah well. It's a good lesson in how not to behave.

The language police are at it again. The poster works with these children, I think she knows what she means - and of course it’s a given that children of this age are not capable of consenting. There are those whose religion does not prohibit taking a bride at the age of 8 or 9, so the poster may be working in very difficult circumstances if she’s close to that kind of situation.

The implication from OP is that giving the vaccine at age 11 somehow means that that’s widely seen as the age kids can potentially have sex. Completely overlooking that anyone under the age of 13 is considered incapable of consenting to sex.

It's given in S1 in Scotland (well all the schools I am aware of anyway) so depending on what time of year children will be 11/12/13 - my daughter has hers coming up and will be 12 but was 11 at the start of the year. Think there's a booster in a couple of year (for her, she has a lot of meds for asthma and eczema that put her on the 'extra' list)

Its usually done at school at age 12/13. Where'd you get 11 from?

Not just girls - also boys. The HPV vaccination demonstrably can prevent the following cancers:
Cervical cancer
Anal cancer
Penile cancer
Peritoneal cancer (i.e. the area between the anus and vulva/scrotum)
Vulva and vaginal cancers
Head and neck cancer - for example throat cancer which can be caused by contracting HPV via oral sex
And genital warts - which, given they involve breaks in the skin can make a person more vulnerable to other kinds of STDs/infections etc etc.

Please don't be under the impression that this is a vaccine that ONLY prevents cancer in girls - it is far far far more useful than that and can prevent horrible cancers for boys too.

The quote you replied to doesn't give the whole story though.

Yes, at age 11 a child probably could not give consent, but the HPV vaccination is given in Year 8 when children are 12 or 13.

By this age (and certainly by 14 or 15), many children will be competent to give their own consent and not require their parents consent.

However, most schools do ask parents for consent as well as otherwise they would have to assess the competence of each pupil individually.

But this does lead to pockets where uptake of the vaccine is low. It has been reported in studies since 2014 and here is a more recent study from 2021 from researchers at UCL as a pdf:

Which young women are not being vaccinated against HPV? Cross-sectional analysis of a UK national cohort study
.

Don't forget that the courts have often ruled on children under the age of 16 being able to give consent for treatment.

This is usually referred to as "Gillick competency" (following a 1985 case of that name where a mother objected to her daughter who was under 16 being given contraception without her consent).

You may remember a court case from 2021, Bell v Tavistock. It went to the Court of Appeal and they decided that it was possible for children under the age of 16 to consent to receive puberty blockers if their doctor decided that they were competent to understand the situation.

It’s offered to children in the UK between the ages of 11- 13.

They are exhibiting highly sexualised behaviour with each other. I don't know how else to label that....Both parties are the same age and consenting whether you want to accept that or not. I totally agree there has likely been an element of sexual abuse that's led to this. At the very least they will likely have been exposed to inappropriate sexualised material online. This is why I say they're being heavily supported. It's really naive to think that this doesn't happen. It does.

Don't bother asking them - they clearly want to argue that the NHS is encouraging children to engage in sexual behaviour. Or, worse, they want to hear anecdotes about kids getting injections/having sexual experiences. Sadly there are some very odd people around who are against all vaccinations and will look for any reason to try to scare people from having them. There are also weird people who get a kick out of talking about children/sex/medical procedures - vile vile vile but yet another reason we need to protect kids as best we can!

Vast majority will be 12 or 13 because it's done in academic year 8 though. So why the ops focus on age 11