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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

not letting my 13-year old DD have the cervical cancer jab?

215 replies

IloveJudgeJudy · 30/11/2009 16:24

It's now crunch time. I have a letter and form from school that I have to sign to allow my 13-year old DD have the three cervical cancer jabs. The form HAS TO be in tomorrow, one way or the other.

Last year when this vaccination came in I was all for it. BUT I have been reading up a bit more about it and have read that it only covers 70% of cervical cancers, far fewer people are affected by cervical cancers than by, for example, lung cancer or heart disease. I have also read, but I am not sure how true it is, that some girls have had quite severe adverse reactions to the vaccination.

So, AIBU to stop my daughter having these jabs?

OP posts:
ThatVikRinA22 · 30/11/2009 16:34

what does your DD want to do?

personally ive heard of no adverse reactions in my DD s school - she has had the first 2.

at 13 id discuss it with your DD. i personally feel that anything that can help reduce the risks of a horrible disease that is a killer is a good thing.

i think what happened to Jade Goody brought the message home to lots of youngsters. my dd wanted the immunisation.

Squishabelle · 30/11/2009 16:34

In my opinion YANBU. My daughter is not having this. And why has the 'scare' a few weeks ago been 'hushed-up'?

Sassybeast · 30/11/2009 16:34

YABU to not let her have the jab based on some info which 'might' or might not be true. YANBU to agonise over the decision. but it needs to be made based on hard clinical evidence. How much does DD know and understand about the vaccine ? I haven't got a 13 year old yet but I think at 13, she's best placed to have a significant say in the decision. This website seems to be geared towards the girls themselves :

www.immunisation.nhs.uk/Vaccines/HPV

ThatVikRinA22 · 30/11/2009 16:35

what scare?

i heard of a girl dying following the jab but it was proved beyond doubt that it was coincidental.

OrmIrian · 30/11/2009 16:36

Mustn't have been paying attention as I've not heard much about this. I was assuming that DD would have it when she reached the age, but I don't know. I have a while to think about it.

but YANBU if you have real doubts.

stuffitllllama · 30/11/2009 16:36

Yanbu, and it's up to you, not her.

Sassybeast · 30/11/2009 16:36

Squishabelle - can you expand on a scare and how it has been hushed up please ?

thesecondcoming · 30/11/2009 16:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ArthurPewty · 30/11/2009 16:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

nellynaemates · 30/11/2009 16:39

If you don't feel comfortable with her having it why not hold off? Surely if you (along with your daughter) decide it's a good idea in a couple of years- by which time she still hopefully won't be sexually active - you could go to your GP and get a catch up jag?

I don't know how that would work but worth looking into?

stuffitllllama · 30/11/2009 16:40

It's up to you. School may try to persuade her to do it anyway, even with forms.

cakeywakey · 30/11/2009 16:41

Even if it only covers 70% of cervical cancers, surely that's better than having no protection? It's a serious disease.

But if you're worried, YANBU about not signing the form, and perhaps can look into it more and chat about it with your daughter. Could she get the jab at your GP's further down the line if you wanted her to have it?

stuffitllllama · 30/11/2009 16:41

You're supposed to have it before sexual activity begins, nelly. However plainly there is no data on how having the jab at 13 affects you when you are 25, 30, 40, 50: whether it still works.

Squishabelle · 30/11/2009 16:42

Sassy - well maybe not hushed up exactly but didnt a girl die a few weeks ago and there was a big outcry? It was in the news and now it dosent seem to have been mentioned again (unless I have missd it). It was this that led my dd to decide not to have it.

stuffitllllama · 30/11/2009 16:44

She had a very serious underlying condition Squish.

Squishabelle · 30/11/2009 16:45

Oh sorry - I didnt realise that the death of the girl was not related to the jab.

TheMightyToosh · 30/11/2009 16:46

YABU.

Your stats are way off/being used out context. Maybe the absolute numbers of people dying from heart disease or lung cancer are greater overall, but certainly not in young women. Estimates are that this vaccine will save 400 lives a year in the UK.

You also haven't mentioned the fact that more than 90% of cervical cancers are caused by the HPV virus (that the vaccine targets) and that 75% of women who have ever been sexually active are likely to have been infected with at least one form of the virus.

www.cervicalcancerinfo.co.uk/what_causes_it.asp#What_is_HPV

ssquishabelle are you thinking of the girl who died on the day of her vaccination? Because that was proven to not be linked to the jab, but to an existing tumour she was not aware of. It hasn't been hushed up, it has been proven to be unrelated.

www.nhs.uk/news/2009/09September/Pages/Cervical-cancer-vaccine-QA.aspx

Yes, some people react more strongly than others to vaccinations, but there have been massive trials with the cervical cancer jab (more than 18000 patients tested before it was approved and several million now vaccinated worldwide) and it would not have been approved for use if there was any significant danger.

I understand your natural apprehension on behalf of your children, but this vaccine (unlike the swine flu vaccine) has been properly developed and throughly tested before it was released. Personally, I will be allowing my DD to have this, and a friend of mine who works in vaccination and infectious diseases has just had her DD vaccinated.

TrillianAstra · 30/11/2009 16:46

I don't understand why it being only 70% of cervical cancers or less common than lung cancer has any relevance.

IMO YABU.

stuffitllllama · 30/11/2009 16:49

There are so many threads on this and Gardasil with great links.

Massive trials : until they trial the vaccine up until 48 (average age of cc patients) those trials are a bit short of information

MorrisZapp · 30/11/2009 16:49

Up to you really but I don't understand your logic that more people have other cancers.

If there was a jab against the other cancers, you'd want her to have that surely?

Sassybeast · 30/11/2009 16:51

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/8284517.stm

This is a classic example of how misinformation can lead people to make decisions - not having a go Ssquisbelle -the story was all over the news when she died - nothing like a juicy story about a kid dying from a vaccine to sell papers. Sadly, the family of Natalie Morton have had to do the rest of their grieving in private as the media vultures quickly moved on as there was nothing to see.

Not a case of being hushed up at all. f your decsion was based solely on that story, maybe now is the time to find out some more ?

stuffitllllama · 30/11/2009 16:52

"it would not have been approved for use if there was any significant danger."

that's very optimistic and not really true

Vioxx, Thalidomide, those acne drugs that triggered suicidal tendencies

it happens

Original poster
IloveJudgeJudy · 30/11/2009 16:52

Thank you for all your replies. I have discussed it with DD and am just about to discuss it with DH this evening, too. I am still in a bit of a dilemma as I don't normally have any qualms about the DC having any vaccinations; they have all had the MMR and all the other jabs during their childhood. This, however, is not a herd jab, so that's why I keep turning it over in my mind.

I'm still no clearer of my own opinion, but thank you all again for taking the time to reply.

OP posts:
famishedass · 30/11/2009 16:56

YABU - why are you deciding on behalf of your dd? Can she not make the decision herself.

Plus, even if you say she can't have it, your dd can over-ride you, so asking for parental permission is pointless really.

slug · 30/11/2009 16:56

One of my sisters died of cervical cancer the week before her 28th birthday. Frankly I wouldn't want my family to go through that again. DD is getting the vaccine.