HPV vaccine 14 year old boy

[BentBastard]

My son had the first HPV vaccine at school pre lockdown. It isn't offered by NHS for boys his age but school offered us the option for private company to come in (we paid).

He was due to have a second required booster thingy but then lockdown happened and it was cancelled and now apparently the window has passed.

I'm wondering what the implications are and what to do?

Will it mean he effectively hasn't had it. Or will it be mostly effective but not fully?

I guess if I want him to have it fully now he'll have to start all over again but if he's mostly protected and most boys his age won't even have had it, is it that big a deal?

I'm pro vaccine so not trying to wriggle out of it but trying to suss out best way forward or whether just leaving it now is perfectly fine?

Thanks!

I honestly don’t understand why it is even given to boys. As far as I know the only benefit as such is that it has been shown to reduce occurrence of abnormal cervical cells. How does it benefit boys?

@FunnyRobin

I honestly don’t understand why it is even given to boys. As far as I know the only benefit as such is that it has been shown to reduce occurrence of abnormal cervical cells. How does it benefit boys?

www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/hpv-human-papillomavirus-vaccine/

Hope this helps answer your question.

“There's a lesser association between HPV and some of the anal and genital cancers, and cancers of the head and neck.“

A lesser “association”? Association is not evidence that it prevents anything. Much like correlation doesn’t equal causation, neither does association.

Giving the HPV vaccine to boys who are not yet sexually active reduces their own chances of getting anal, genital & head & neck cancers and protects female partners from HPV infections which have similar risks for women (primarily cervical cancer). HPV vaccination is widely given to boys in countries such as Spain & Australia and has drastically reduced the incidence of female HPV infections and associated cervical cancers I understand. So to answer your question, yes OP I think it's important and all you can so is ask a vaccination provider how best to ensure your DS is covered. It probably does mean starting again unfortunately. By memory I think 2 jabs might do it for boys 14 & under but 3 are needed for older boys.

@FunnyRobin

“There's a lesser association between HPV and some of the anal and genital cancers, and cancers of the head and neck.“

A lesser “association”? Association is not evidence that it prevents anything. Much like correlation doesn’t equal causation, neither does association.

Pretty sure your trying to finding fault just for the sake of it. Its written for the general public not a peer review FFS.

My son had his first vaccination in September last year and was due to have it in March. Obviously it was postponed although he was able to have it end July.

When was your ds' first vaccination? My da had his done at Boots.

@FunnyRobin

I honestly don’t understand why it is even given to boys. As far as I know the only benefit as such is that it has been shown to reduce occurrence of abnormal cervical cells. How does it benefit boys?

@FunnyRobin it stops them catching it and giving it to girls. Surely the more people of both sexes who get it the better?

MrsEricBana

Giving the HPV vaccine to boys who are not yet sexually active reduces their own chances of getting anal, genital & head & neck cancers and protects female partners from HPV infections which have similar risks for women (primarily cervical cancer).

Hi. Do you have any evidence of this that you can direct me to? I have read quite a few papers and a study of Scottish women showed only a reduction in cases of cell changes, but an increase in rates of cervical cancer. I have seen no papers with evidence of any protective benefit in boys. Do you have any links?

jdoejnr1

No, I’m not finding fault for the sake of it. I really want to see evidence of any benefit in boys (or girls for that matter) as I haven’t yet found any.

No sorry I do not have any links, that is my understanding based on what I have been told / read generally.

Regardless of the benefit or not to boys, I think they should be given it to stop them passing a deadly disease on to their partners.

Or are men above that responsibility? Is it too inconvenient for them?

Happyspud

But there’s no evidence (as far as I know) that it does this, and no evidence that it prevents cervical cancer. Rates have been increasing over the past few years, not decreasing.

There is evidence that vaccinated girls have fewer episodes of “abnormal cervical cells” but no evidence of a reduction in cervical cancer diagnoses. If anyone has any links to recent papers showing a reduction I’d really like to read them. This particular vaccine has been associated with disabling side effects in teenagers and although the majority of Mumsnet will say “correlation doesn’t equal causation”, the very same can be said of the association between HPV and cervical cancer. It is correlated with it for sure but no evidence it is the cause, and even less evidence that the vaccine works. I’m the s our t of person who wants evidence of efficacy before taking any form of medical intervention. The flu vax is another one. In a year with lower than average flu cases/deaths they claim it works, and in a higher than average year they claim they had the wrong strains (pretty much every year), yet flu cases vary massively year on year so how do they unlock whether it has anything to do with the jab or just natural variation? I’m still looking for evidence on that one, if anyone can link me to anything?

@BentBastard

This post seems to have become a pro and anti vaccination discussion....

Back to your original point, I've just read on the nhs website that the second dose can be between 6 months to 24 months after the first so your son should be ok. As I previously posted my son had his vaccinations at Boots and I'm sure lots of other places are doing it too. Best to check with them about the timings but according to the nhs website your son should be ok.

@FunnyRobin

Happyspud

But there’s no evidence (as far as I know) that it does this, and no evidence that it prevents cervical cancer. Rates have been increasing over the past few years, not decreasing.

vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/hpv-vaccine

Thank you follygirl and for the tag. I just admit that after not getting a reply after several days I gave up on the post so fortunately missed it turning into a vaccination debate.

I will see if Boots will administer the booster. Hopefully it won't be a problem that he had the initial dose elsewhere.

I'll leave the thread now as don't want to get into a debate about the merits of vaccination.

Sorry, I didn’t intend to cause anti vax debate. How is it anti vax to ask to see research that shows efficacy? I researched car safety and car seat safety before opting for a specific car and child seat, and I would like to see the same evidence for any vaccines I give my kids. I don’t just accept what it says in the sales pitch.

@FunnyRobin

Sorry, I didn’t intend to cause anti vax debate. How is it anti vax to ask to see research that shows efficacy? I researched car safety and car seat safety before opting for a specific car and child seat, and I would like to see the same evidence for any vaccines I give my kids. I don’t just accept what it says in the sales pitch.

There hasn’t been time for the HPV vaccination to affect cervical cancer rates. You have to wait at least twenty years from achieving mass vaccination before you’d see impact. The women getting cervical cancer now never got the HPV vaccine.

But there has been a dramatic reduction in women testing positive for HPV from smear tests. And HPV is known to cause vast majority of cervical cancers. vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vk/hpv-vaccine

@FunnyRobin

Happyspud

But there’s no evidence (as far as I know) that it does this, and no evidence that it prevents cervical cancer. Rates have been increasing over the past few years, not decreasing.

Thats categorically not true. In the link that I and a pp posted it says

In clinical trials, the HPV vaccine was over 99% effective at preventing pre-cancer caused by HPV types 16 or 18 in young women, which are linked to 70% of cervical cancers. It is estimated that by 2058 after 50 years of this vaccination programme, 64,000 cervical cancers and 50,000 other cancers will have been prevented.

Evidence from a recent study of 66 million young men and women showed an 83% reduction in high-risk HPV in teenage girls, and 66% reduction in women aged 20-24. The study also showed precancerous cervical lesions declined by 51% in teenage girls and 31% in women up to age 24 (Analysis of HPV Vaccine Effectiveness).

But no evidence of reduction in cases of cervical cancer.

@FunnyRobin

But no evidence of reduction in cases of cervical cancer.

I don’t understand what is so difficult to understand. The vaccine did reduce incidence of cervical cancer in clinical trials. So that is in fact evidence right there.

At the population level...as in total cervical cancer rates. The women currently old enough to develop cervical cancer are too old to have ever been offered the vaccine.

This is because cervical cancer takes on average 15-20 years to develop after infection with HPV. The vaccine was only introduced in the U.K. in 2008 to young girls aged 11-12. Average age sexually active is 18, which they would have reached in 2014-2015. Assuming if they had not vaccine, and they all caught HPV before their 19th birthday, these young women would not start even showing cervical cancer until 2029-2030 at the earliest.

Based on the evidence from the clinical trials, cervical cancer rates will go down starting in 2030 and continue to decline rapidly until 2058 due to the vaccine. This is because the first girls that got the vaccine won’t be old enough until 2029-2030 for us to see the protective effects of the vaccine on cervical cancer rates.This is ten years from now.

In clinical trials it DID prevent cancer, but on a population level, it is too soon to see the reductions that WILL COME.

@FunnyRobin

But no evidence of reduction in cases of cervical cancer.

Troll