New vaccination against cervical cancer for girls - what are general thoughts on it.

[mears]

I am not sure.

My 14 year ols DD will be offered it soon but there has never been cervical cancer in our family and I am sure, like me she will have regular screening.

You worry about what vaccinations can do to the rest of your system to some extent.

Any thoughts?

my mother is very conservative morally. always has been, being a Roman Catholic who grew up in the 1950s.

but you know, for me, i just never linked having a varied or voracious sexual appetite or enjoying sexuality with my self-respect or self-esteem.

i always practice safe sex.

it still doesn't prevent HPV transmission and i know that, too.

it's not an 'STD' in the same sense of chlamydia or clap because, as pointed out, it's endemic in the human population, with the majority of all sexually active people having it.

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Pitchounette I have to say I'm shocked and appalled by your stance. This is a vaccine that will save our daughters lives! The availability of all new medicines are driven by market forces. Without these pharma companies driving the research and developing new agents we would still be living in the dark ages, our life expectancy would be significantly shorter and many of us would be dying from totally preventable/curable conditions. The money for reserach does not just appear out of thin air. Government research is seriously underfunded so unless we're all prepared to up our tax contributions significantly we have to live with it. Of course its not ideal, but research costs and pharma companies need to recoup those costs by marketing their products. Having said that I agree the profits they appear to make does appear excessive but thats entering a whole different argument about social structure and economics.

Also, the vaccine is directed against 2 HPV strains (viruses and not bacteria) and these two strains account for >80% of all the cervical cancers caused by HPV.

Newpup I think we're having a semantic disagreement. The vaccine is directed against the virus and of course the virus isn't a 'cancer' but it does cause cancer and therefore is classed as an anticancer vaccine. Of course, it isn't directed against neoplastic cells in the same way as say a dendritic cell vaccine would be but the goal is the same.

Gardasil (don't know about the other HPV vaccines) protects against strains 16 and 18 of HPV, which are the two which cause most (around 70%) of cervical cancer, and two other strains which can also cause cervical cancer. Strains of HPV can also cause genital warts which are pretty unpleasant although not deadly.

Most of the controversy seems to be about giving the vaccine to girls who are unlikely to yet be having sex - but the entire point is to do the vaccination before they start having sex, given that HPV can be transmitted even when condoms are used, and loads of the population have strains of the virus already.

I'd get my hypothetical daughter vaccinated. Friends of mine have been getting the jab privately, although I don't think it's necessary for me. What I'd really like to see is detailed sex education that includes 'this is what a genital wart looks like' and assertiveness exercises to encourage partners to check each other over - hell, encourage them to be sober and to talk to each other in detail first - before rubbing their genetalia together. Sadly I don't see that happening across the UK soon.

This thread has made good reading - thanks for the posts.

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I was 2o when i had my first Positive smear. I had laser treatment and had to go back after 6 months, had more laser treatments and back after 3 months.
its now 7 years on and i think the hospital lab has more of my cervix than i do!

If this vaccine prevents 1 girl from catching a virus that could potentially kill her then it is a good thing.

Nothing will substitute good and frequent smear testing. and even if my DD has this jab i will still ensurew she goes for regular screening. as i said earlier, My own cancer is not thought to have been caused by HPV (my tests for it have returned negative) so i know that this is not the cure for cancer, but it is a bloody major preventative step.

They account for 70% of the cervical cancers only yes 70% of ALL CERVICAL CANCERS - you imply that this is somehow 'not worth it??!!
They do not protect from all the others. other what? other strains of HPV? yes thats true but they account for a tiny proportion of all CC cases
They do not protect if the girl as already been sexually active not true, absolutely not true, secually active women and even womenexposed to or infected with HPV gain protection from these vaccines
The reaction expected from health professional is that the jumber of smear test will go down. where exactly did you get this info from. From my interactions with the consultants and academics driving the UK uptake of these vaccines the feeling is very much they will supplement screening
All that means that that they do not expect an important fall of number of deaths linked to cervical cancer again where did you get this from - not my expereince talking to the consultants and academics directly involved
Actually some people think that the effect will be nil *again where did you get this from - not my expereince talking to the

That post was unintelliglible!! Perhaps this will be clearer

They account for 70% of the cervical cancers only yes 70% of ALL CERVICAL CANCERS - you imply that this is somehow 'not worth it??!!

They do not protect from all the others. other what? other strains of HPV? yes thats true but they account for a tiny proportion of all CC cases

They do not protect if the girl as already been sexually active not true, absolutely not true, secually active women and even womenexposed to or infected with HPV gain protection from these vaccines

The reaction expected from health professional is that the jumber of smear test will go down. where exactly did you get this info from. From my interactions with the consultants and academics driving the UK uptake of these vaccines the feeling is very much they will supplement screening

All that means that that they do not expect an important fall of number of deaths linked to cervical cancer again where did you get this from - not my expereince talking to the consultants and academics directly involved

Actually some people think that the effect will be nil *again where did you get this from - not my expereince talking to the

Also had to respond to this:

On the other side we do not know what are the side effects of this vaccine. WRONG we know a great deal about the side effects from the clinical trials that have been done. Such trials and detailed safety info are required for approval to market any and all drugs*

Quite of few have been taken of the matket after a few years because they did more harm than good... such as????

You really ought to check your facts and give your sources before making such damaging and in this case incorrect assertions.

I have just booked in my 15 year old daughter for the first of the jabs - because she is not 'the right age', it's costing me £400 to have them privately.

It's an eight month programme for the vaccine to be effective, by which time she will be 16, and whilst I don't want to encourage her to become 'sexually active', I want to protect her.

Our practice nurse has just told me that 'heavy petting' can cause a transfer of the virus, which to me makes it even more important that our daughters get this protection.

Why the devil is the government providing innoculations for 13 year olds, and apparently as from September, 17/18 years olds, and missing out the age group most likely to become sexually active over the next couple of years?

Thanks for starting this thread Mears - it made me do something about what I've been talking about for ages!

i have paid privately for my daughter to have this as she would miss the rounds in school.

there was spin put out in the press that said that there would be a catch up programme and every girl up to the age of 18 would be offered it

this would be a rolling rpogramme i found out - and very much down to your PCT - my PCT whom i phoned 6 months ago when my journey started, had no information about any of this - despite it proportedly being rolled out in schools this september. of course it isn't this september in this area anyway.

Where there any side effects custardo?

no

the third one is yet to come

but that 8 month window is a short time in the sexual maturity of a teenager

a 14 year old is nearly a 15 year old by the time the cours of injections is finished - so mothers - think on!

That's exactly my thought. Dd has had a talking to this morning about 'no touching' - and if he really cares about you, he won't ask!

my mother died from cervical cancer aged 64

she had one partner, and that was my father

he on the other hand had many women as he was a serial adulterer, and it was hinted at , that his behaviour had been the reason my mother was diagnosed with cc

of course we dont know for sure but i do know he was her only partner up to the point she was given the news

i will have no second thoughts regarding my daughters having this vaccination

watching someone die from cancer is terrible

I have been watching this thead with interest. I am not a mum (sorry but im still addicted to mumsnet!) but I look after children and going into the health profession so often watch these threads- whoever thought mumsnet would be educational...

As my name (namedchanged for this) indicates I am 23 and not yet sexually active ( I know sad and lonely...) Anyway as I am in this position I see it as wise to have this vaccination before I do come in contact with HPV. I understand the benefits of the vaccine as I have a degree in medical biology and we went into depth about HPV strains and the mechanism in which it (HPV 16 and 18) lead to cancer. I agree strongly with the idea of vaccinating all girls.

Realistically though, what are the chances of me getting this vaccine before I do become sexually active? I am going back to uni to do a masters so am not in a financial situation to pay privately for it.

There seem to be pretty fixed guidelines - I know our practice nurse, and feel that if there had been any flexibility, she would have offered it to me for dd.

I still think it's worth phoning and asking the question though!

Have chatted with DD and said that I think she should have the vaccination.

There is a rumour going round school that the 'jag causes another cancer'

I have reassured her this is not the case.

Vaccination is such a difficult subject - I thought I was past it. I lived through the worst years of the MMR debate and I actually did not have the second jab as I had no confidence in the system by then.

Ended up with DS1 getting MMR when he was a teenager incase he was susceptible to mumps. Made me blikin' well sick that they got me!!

I have lived through numerous measles scares that never emerged and truly believe the scares are a way of trying to get parents to vaccinate.

I myself resist the 'flu' vaccine as I have never in my life had the flu yet know a nuimber of people who have been ill after getting the vaccine. One of my colleagues ended up in coronary care with inflammation of the heart. Vaccines do have effects other than protection.

HPV has recently also been implicated in some head and neck cancers (including some of those strains of HPV included in the vaccine being discussed), and a slightly increased risk of penile cancer in men (and of course anal cancer, mainly in gay men). HPV can also cause vaginal cancer and cancer of the labia. The vaccine would therefore help reduce the chance of developing several types of cancer, cervical cancer just being the most common of these.

Having always been paranoid about the idea of getting an STI or having an unwanted pregnancy, and therefore choosing not to have sex until I met someone I wanted to marry and have children with, I was devastated to have an abnormal smear 8 months after first having intercourse. I have subsequently gone on to have several abnormal smears and one LEEP treatment. My husband had an extremely limited sexual history prior to meeting me. Frankly, it made me wish I'd not been so paranoid when I was younger, as waiting for the right man didn't protect me from getting HPV at all. I would most definitely want my children to be vacccinated.

My 14 year old DD has just told me that half of the girls in her year at school will not be eligible for the vaccine as they are already sexually active

what do they classify as 'active'?

you don't need to have penetrative intercourse to contract one or more strains of HPV (i got a crash course in it when i had cervical dysplasia).

DD is talking about sex!!