Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

hpv vaccine

51 replies

kentmumtj · 12/09/2010 20:51

i am so worried about giving consent for my dd to have the hpv vaccine as it seems quite new and there are all sorts of side effects which worrys me adice welcome

OP posts:
Original poster
kentmumtj · 12/09/2010 20:55

i would love to know how many parents would consents and how many wouldnt. I would also like to hear from parents who hve consented and how their dds were after the jabs

OP posts:
DuffyMoon · 12/09/2010 21:00

I consented and my daughter was fine...apart from a sore arm

Original poster
kentmumtj · 12/09/2010 21:24

well thats good to hear as i have heard so many horror stories and really dont know what to do

OP posts:
musicmadness · 16/09/2010 02:02

Discuss it with your daughter either way. In my area at least (I don't know if its the same across the country) the child can over ride the parents decision so its worth talking to her about it.

For what its worth I had the HPV vaccine in the catch up program and the only side effect was my arm ached for a couple of days. As far as I know no one at my school had any side effects besides feeling a little sick immediately afterwards and a sore arm for a couple of days afterwards maximum. No problem at all Grin

Numbers for the year I had it done in my school (roughly):
sixth formers - about 80% of the year so approximately 100 girls. No parental consent required.

Year 8s - roughly 80 girls (out of 97). About 10 of these were the girls over ruling the parents.

Obviously I have no idea if the same proportions exist elsewhere, and this is all from personal experience rather than anything official so I don't know if it helps or not. Hope it does though :)

Appletrees · 17/09/2010 09:58

No, I haven't and I won't give my consent. There's quite a lot of discussion on this in this topic. Sorry I can't go into it but wanted you to know you aren't the only one.

If you really don't want your daughter to have it you will have to explain to her quite clearly why because the nurse will try to persuade her. It would be quite difficult for a child to withstand that.

If you think she can't I would tell the school consent is withheld because all jabs are done at the GP due to a previous horrifying reaction in a relative.

Original poster
kentmumtj · 18/09/2010 20:23

well i didnt consent and we spoke with our dd at length she was happy to go with our choice. I am not anti vaccines at all they have had all their other jabs.

The school nurse has not contacted me as yet i guess i will have to wait to see if they will. I hope they dont put pressure on her to have it as thats really unfair.

I also have dd19 and a dd17 who have chosen to not have the vaccine based on their own choices not on mine.

I guess it is a personal choice.

Im not worried about the short term afects its the long term effects that concerns me. This is something that no professional has been able to give me any confirmation on and that is simply becuase they do not know yet. This is my worry.

also i do not understand why the UK chosses to use a different vaccine to other european countries

OP posts:
jem44 · 18/09/2010 20:36

Since the majority of sexually active people are exposed to HPV at some time anyway, would the long term effects be different to being exposed naturally, I wonder? I was a bit concerned that they are not absolutely sure how long protection will last.

My daughters had Gardasil which protects against more strains than Cevarix. Apart from feeling faint they were fine but I was told by the doctor that it is rather a painful vaccination.

There is also an age at which it "takes" best, I understand and for that reason, as well as protecting them before they are active, it is considered best given before the late teenage years. I waited until mine were 14/15 rather than 12 though.

Original poster
kentmumtj · 18/09/2010 21:02

from the infomation i have gathered through reading and seeking many medics advice i think it protets for about 6 years

OP posts:
musicmadness · 18/09/2010 21:53

Its at least 6 years. They don't know any further than that yet because the tests were only done 6 years ago. They just know that the immunity is still going strong at this point. They don't know how long it will last though.

Appletrees The nurse didn't see any of the girls who weren't having it done at my school. The nurses were in the library for the vaccinations and anyone who had said they didn't want the jab was not allowed in the room. Does your DDs school make them all talk to the nurse? Thats bad if they do.

Kentmumtj I don't think they will contact you. They may ask if your DD is happy with your decision (ask your DD that is) but I don't think they ask again after that. They just accept the no IME. They should do anyway. I'm with you on the its a personal choice thing. They shouldn't contact again once a decision has been made.

Jem44 IME it doesn't hurt. It just aches a bit. It was no where near as painful as the TB jab anyway. That one was bloody painful!

Original poster
kentmumtj · 20/09/2010 14:42

I have spoken with my dd i feel happy that i have made this decision and i have spoken with my dd about it.

and yes the TB jab oohhh i remember that one and am still bearing the scar. strangely they will not offer this injection to my children which i would like them to have. This is despite my eldest dd who 4 years ago was in the same class as a girl who developed TB. When i asked why my dd wouldnt get the jab and the majority of others were i was informed it because i live in a different borough and the borough i live in is classed as a low risk area,

Stupid if you ask me they were in the same class. Oh well

OP posts:
magimix · 20/09/2010 20:40

I read somewhere that girls were being used as guinea pigs for the HPV vaccine, this alarmed me enough not to give my approval. Also I do wonder what effect vaccines have on our children we seem to be giving them so many these days at quite young ages, many contain mercury which cannot be good for the body.

Original poster
kentmumtj · 21/09/2010 11:20

crikey if i had read that it would have made my decision easier..........how scary, but possibly true as they do not know the long term side effects

OP posts:
jsomum · 21/09/2010 13:37

I am also feeling very unhappy about this vaccination. My daughter only just 12 and is very small for her age which concerns me, and if the vaccine lasts for 6 years I think she is still too young. Also they still need to have smear tests. I spoke to the school nurse who said she could be put on the list for next year but my daughter was upset by that suggestion. She does not want to be any different to her peers so would rather have the jab now in year8. Any advice...

DiscoDaisy · 21/09/2010 13:40

My daughter had it and didn't have any side effects at the time apart from a sore arm.

Appletrees · 21/09/2010 13:56

Jso: I understand the not wanting to be different. But your concerns are more important. I imagine you would like to be told just go ahead, it's fine somebody to take the decision out of your hands. At least you'll feel you've done the right thing.

But you need to remember that if there are any adverse events, you will not be believed, your daughter will not be treated as having suffered vaccine damage, it will be deemed a coincidence, you will be ignored and disregarded by doctors and all health professionals. The same ones who want you to have it done. You and your daughter will be utterly abandoned. Do not doubt it. It has happened, it is happening and it will happen again. One mother has even been threatened with having her daughter taken into care because of her staunch determination to have an HPV adverse event admitted to be vaccine damage.

Those reassurances will be forgotten and any claims you make will be rejected.

jsomum · 21/09/2010 14:14

Thank you for your replies. I suppose I find it hard to stand firm in the face of such a huge majority who have the vaccine without a second thought. Quote from dd, "I'll be the only one!!" I am also shocked by how important peer pressure and the desire to fit in has become for my dd in the last 6 months or so.

I didn't hesitate for the other vaccines when the children were younger but the HPV does not sit comfortably with me......
I do feel that I could be letting dd down by failing to protect her from the risk of cancer, and as usual dh doesn't quite see what all the fuss is about!!
This helps though, thanks and I'm getting the hang of acronyms - slowly.

Original poster
kentmumtj · 21/09/2010 15:52

oh dear that must make it hard when your daughter wants yo have it to 'fit in'. I guess i must have been lucky as my dd kind of left the decision to me as she feels that i know best, i tried to explain to her that i dont always know best and in this case it may be that the jab is brilliant and worth having.

She told me that she thinks most of the girls are having it and knows for definate that 1 of them isnt.

I guess she has put her trust and faith in me as her mum, which is nice as im sure she wont in years to come lol

talk with your daughter about your worries i did with mine and was honest.

OP posts:
Pixel · 21/09/2010 21:11

My dd was the only one who didn't have it but she was happy with the reasons why we didn't give consent. We told her she doesn't have to be a sheep! Since she is perfectly capable of understanding that if she decides she wants it later on it will have to be before she becomes sexually active then we saw no reason to rush into it at the age of 12.

Jem44, I wonder how they know it 'takes' best in younger teens? I've read that they didn't test it on anyone under the age of 16.

magimix · 22/09/2010 08:59

Totally agree with Appletrees comments, another issue is if you want to obtain vaccine batch numbers for any reason you might find this very difficult after the event. What pees me off is that they are happy to give our children one vaccine after another but unhelpful if you want more information at a later date i.e batch numbers. My advice is to get the batch number from the nurse at the time of vaccinating and if anything goes wrong at least you have some evidence. I am thinking of course about the BCG vaccinations that were withdrawn without explanation back in 2000, why? were they hiding something from us?

allfornature · 23/09/2010 14:40

I find it really disturbing that adults are making these decisions for their daughters without having enough evidence that in the long term this vaccine will actually benefit the health. how do we know that in 10 or 15 years these vaccines won't increase the instances of infertility or perhaps have more adverse impact on health? I don't like that the HPV vaccine is developed using genetically modified trans-species virus.
personally, I cannot make this decision for my daughter, I think it is unethical. how can I play with my daughters future? my daughter decided on not getting it.

governmentandreform · 24/09/2010 21:01

My dc are used to not being sheep. I will have to go into the details more with dd so that she can withstand pressure from the nurse. I've explained to dd that she mustn't scare all her classmates to death though, so not to go public with the risks.

As I understand it, like all the other vaccines, this one will have to be renewed every so often throughout their lives (if you go along with the theory of having it at all).

nailvarnishqueen · 29/09/2010 15:07

my dd didn't have the vaccine yesterday at school. When all other girls in the year were asked to line up, so was my daughter, then when she gave her form to the school nurse, the nurse was astounded that it was a refusal, she then gave my daughter another form to bring home and fill in. My dd then had to endure other girls in the class telling her that "now she would get cancer and die" I feel awful that this has happened and i have complained to the school. Has anything like this happened to anone else?

MariaBN6 · 29/09/2010 15:38

I so feel for your daughter, NVQ. How terrible of the other girls to tell her this! I would definitely complain and try and make them look into it and get them to take their words back. Did your daughter get upset? I would probably tell mine that she should reply that this is a new vaccine and its effects are unknown, and could be really awful. Plus vaccination is not a law in the UK! Hope your DD is ok.

nailvarnishqueen · 29/09/2010 20:20

Thanks for your kindness MariaBN6. My dd is ok now after telling her classmates "it's her body and her decision" most of the classmates had the jab because everyone else was, which is not a great reason to have it imho and it's great to read the posts here and know i'm not the only one who is not convinced that the jab is a good thing.

bubbleymummy · 29/09/2010 22:05

How awful Nailvarnish. You must be very proud of your daughter for standing up for herself though. I hate the way this vaccine is being promoted. Clearly, these girls and their parents aren't making an informed decision if their opinion is that by not getting it you will get cancer and die Hmm.