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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

hpv vaccine

68 replies

beckaboop · 26/01/2011 17:51

hi there, i'm doing a spot of research for an assignment on the hpv vaccine and cervical screening, and would love to get a parent's view on the hpv vaccine. untill doing the assigment i knew very little about hpv and wondered how much information was given to parents and if you felt it was enough? if anyone feels like sharing that would be great! if your child has had the vaccine, you decided against it, has your child had any side effects ect. thanks :)

OP posts:
PixieOnaLeaf · 27/01/2011 17:43

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mrswoodentop · 27/01/2011 17:44

The thing is newpup that your child may not have sex until they are married ,if thats what they choose to do,but if their DH has had sex before with another partner then she may still be at risk.

HPV is transmitted by sexual contact but it does not follow that it is necessarily associated with promiscuity

QuickLookBusy · 27/01/2011 17:46

God Pup that is such a vile thing to say. I don't presume my DDS are going to catch a STD. I hope with all my heart that they will not. But who knows what will happen in the future. God forbid this happening to anyone, but what if a girl is sexually assaulted and catches a STD. Do you know girls and women who are raped have to be tested for STDs?

What if she is a virgin when married, after 3 years her DH then has an affair and gives her this virus?

I think its just you who is thinking injection=early sex. There are other possiblities and scenarios.

PixieOnaLeaf · 27/01/2011 17:46

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PixieOnaLeaf · 27/01/2011 17:47

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Longtalljosie · 27/01/2011 17:56

This is ridiculous. Those of you who think giving the HPV vaccine is a green-light to promiscuity - what would you rather? That your child actually got cancer?

Yes, it's a sexually transmitted virus. But it's a sexually transmitted virus which causes an aggressive and potentially fatal form of cancer. For heavens sake.

DuplicitousBitch · 27/01/2011 17:58

i think boys should have it too. then we would have herd protection

MaureenMLove · 27/01/2011 17:59

It's my job to educate my DD about what the jab is for, not society. I read all the details about it and made an informed decision, with DD. She had the vaccine.

thekidsmom · 27/01/2011 18:03

I have a side effects experience for you.

My DD, 14, had the first of the 3 jabs about this time last year, possibly a little bit later, but she was in the first batch of then year 9s to be on the regular programme.

She has had no history of side effects to vaccines excpet for a faint after the hib about 5 years ago - nothing serious.

She does already suffer from asthma and ezcema but from the usual environmental triggers - dust, cats, pollen etc.

She had the jab about 10am one monring with the rest of her class. Unfortunately alot of them were a bit nervy and I dont think the adrenalin can have helped most of them. Quite a lot of girls had sore arms and a couple fo rashes and a few gilrs felt fiant.

My DD was more dramatic. After about half an hour, back in class, she found she couldnt speak. So couldnt attract attention that she felt 'wrong'. She then stood up to try to go to the nurse but unfortunatley couldnt walk - she could stand up but then couldnt put one foot in front of the other. At this point the teacher realised there was something very wrong and sent for help and DD was carried to the sick room.

I was contacted a little later and assumed that she was having a migraine (I didnt know on the phone about the walking bit, only the speaking bit). But when I talked to DD on the phone, I could tell this was not her usual migriane speech pattern (of confused verbs and nouns - same as I get, so wouldnt have worried me). It was as though she had developed the world's worst stutter and couldnt even say 'mum'.

By the time I got to school it was probably about 4 hours after the jab and by that time she could at least walk a bit and her speech was more or less normal, so it was obvious she would recover. But she said her speech was 'difficult' for a good few hours after - she really had to work on forming sentences. And her leg movements were not properly back until about 48 hours later.

So, after consultation with the GP who then consulted the hopsital consultant in charge of these things, we decided against the next 2 jabs. They decided that the reaction could not have been either hysteria or based on an adrenalin rush because of the length of time she experienced symptoms and it became a notifiable reaction (so she will be one of the statistics published about the vaccine)

Consequently, her older sister, who was due on the catch up programme, will not be having the vaccine, as the risk seems a bit high for us.

BUT the DD in question did have a routine DPT this month which passed off just fine, confirming that it is not jabs in general - it was something about the HPV.

I hope that helps your project!

DilysPrice · 27/01/2011 18:08

Actually I do assume that my DD and DS will contract this STD if not protected by vaccination, it's endemic within the population at the moment, and the majority of people who ever have sex will catch it (possibly a widespread female vaccination programme will turn it into a mostly gay male disease over time).
Condoms are a good idea but do not offer total protection, and I'd much rather the whole class got their shots at the same time than individual parents decide whether their DD was a good girl who wouldn't do that sort of thing for years. I don't think it will encourage them to have sex any more than the rubella shot I had encouraged me to have sex aged 12.

Does anyone else suspect newpup of being a strategic sockpuppet of the OP? it's what I'd do if I wanted lots of discussion.

cat64 · 27/01/2011 18:14

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DilysPrice · 27/01/2011 18:24

Sorry, maybe I should have kept quiet, I'm not really attacking, it would be a reasonable tactic IMO, because no-one's getting hurt, and the discussion is, as you say interesting.

newpup · 27/01/2011 20:56

I have made my point of view known and am perfectly entitiled to do so.

I am shocked that anyone would accuse me of being a 'sock puppet' because my opinion is not with the majority!

I have made my point without being aggressive or insulting another poster.

Am I only allowed to post if I agree with everyone else? I accept I am in a minority but nonetheless I am entitled to post my opinion.

Leverkusen · 27/01/2011 21:16

Of course you're allowed an opinion I just don't quite understand it.

-'I am certainly not 'leaving her open to catching an s.t.d' I will educate her about self-respect and safe sex!'-

I'm concerned about this because it's not as though having the HPV vaccine means that girls shouldn't also practise safe sex.

For what it is worth, I have only had sex with one person in my life, my DH. I waited until I was 19 to sleep with him, we didn't have unprotected sex (we used condom and pill) and I contracted HSV. It is the same with HPV- it can still be contracted even with condom use, so your safe sex argument doesn't really work.

Meglet · 27/01/2011 21:23

newpup - it's not the age that girls start having sex that is the problem. You only have to have unprotected sex once to catch the virus, it's doesn't matter if you are 15 or 25. FWIW I first had sex at 22, had 2 partners, regular smears, didn't smoke and have ended with loads of treatments and a hysterectomy for very abnormal cells.

As others have said, getting the rubella jad didn't make me want to go out and have sex.

DD is only 2 but she will be having the jab when the time comes.

sharon2609 · 27/01/2011 22:42

We can educate our children all we like but when hormones and young love kick in all the educating in the world can fly out the window. I'd rather be safe than sorry. I continue to chat to my daughter about loving relationships and sex etc but I believe kids will do what they want in the end Sad

rougelapin · 27/01/2011 23:02

Completely agree with newpup

PixieOnaLeaf · 27/01/2011 23:08

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AimingForSerenity · 27/01/2011 23:27

I don't completely agree with Newpup but have some sympathy with your views. I am always sceptical when governments rush things in so quickly, I wish I could believe they always have our best interests at heart and not those of big pharma, etc

This vaccine is commonly referred to, in our area too, as "the cervical cancer jab" whereas it is effective against just a few out of 140 types of HPV. HPV is not cancer, it is one risk factor, sometimes among many.

My daughter is old enough to make up her own mind and has decided that she does not wish to have it. We have talked at length and read information together but she is happy with her decision.

Two of her friends were ill after their vaccination, one of them sufficiently so to need medical help.

rougelapin · 27/01/2011 23:40

I don't agree that the jab will lead to girls becoming promiscuous at a young age. I agree with what newpup has said about misrepresentation. We do need to better inform our girls (and boys) about sex, sexual health and respect.

Longtalljosie · 28/01/2011 07:30

I wish I could believe they always have our best interests at heart and not those of big pharma, etc

Sorry, that's a ridiculous thing to say and on a par with suggesting when you buy vegetables you only have Sainsburys' interests at heart. A vaccination programme is an expense. The only thing the government "gets out" of it is treating fewer people for cervical cancer. It's a spend money to make money thing. Just as they give you the pill for free because it's cheaper than paying the child-related benefits when you get pregnant.

newpup · 28/01/2011 09:52

I have not stated anywhere that I think girls having the jab will make them promiscuous. That is not part of my arguement at all.

I just feel that with regard to H.P.V. and related issues we should be working harder to educate rather than just vaccinate.

I actually have faith that my DD will have a strong moral code because that is how I brought her up. I fully accept she may make decisions I will not agree with or she may be unlucky but I refuse to believe that I should vacinate her against an s.t.d. because I have no faith she will be responsible.

I think as a society we should stop accepting that it is okay for young people to have sex. I am not suggesting that we tell them to all remain virgins until they get married. I just feel that young girls and boys are pressurised into thinking it is normal or okay. I think we have been too liberal and we are facing the consequences or rather our children are.

By simply saying 'It goes on, we can not do anything' etc. we are letting them down. We should be empowering them to say no! No one is ready for the emotional and physical consequences of sex at the age of 12/13. What message does it give young girls if we tell them we are vaccinating them against an s.t.d? That is a decision my DD should make for herself when she is mature enough to do so.

Longtalljosie · 28/01/2011 10:09

newpup, here's why I think you're wrong.

Let me start with where I agree with you. I also think abstinence is under-rated, especially with regard to girls, as opposed to women. I absolutely agree we should be giving girls the confidence to say no; I agree we should be encouraging teenagers to be proud, rather than ashamed, of their virginity, if DD ended up only sleeping with her eventual husband I would encourage her to be proud of that.

However:

  1. Sexually transmitted diseases aren't any "dirtier" than diseases transmitted by saliva, or droplets from sneezes, or blood-to-blood contact. They don't have little moral codes, they are bugs. Just like chicken pox. Yes, OK, they are spread by sex. Which leads me to point two.
  1. Your daughters will, almost certainly, have sex. With at least one person. If you are holding out for that person to be a virgin too, you are holding out for quite an unlikely scenario. So the moment she tries for a baby she is, potentially at risk.
  1. The HPV vaccine is a vaccine just like any other. Similar to point one above, it's not a "dirty" vaccine. It doesn't come in a leopard-skin syringe with a little pink boa. It is killing off a bug which leads to a nasty form of cancer.
  1. Those who are explaining it to their children and saying they have to be honest, I will say something along these lines:

The vaccine's against HPV which is a virus which makes it far more likely you'll get cervical cancer. HPV is passed on if you have sex with someone who has it. Of course, you might not get HPV. But you can't tell who will or won't have it so better to be safe than sorry.

What are you saying? That if your DD is a nice girl, she won't get it? Because that's not actually the case.

Leverkusen · 28/01/2011 10:48

newpup do you honestly think that only people with no morals would get HPV?

If she has sex once in her life then she could get it. I don't understand you at all.

bumpybecky · 28/01/2011 10:53

I've not read all the posts above, but trying to answer the original questions..

dd1 (year 8) has had the first two injections and it due the third in a few weeks. We had a letter home from school followed by a meeting in the school (with daughters present) that was led by a the lead nurse doing the injections. She had a slideshow with info from the govt website, gave us all a leaflet and answered any questions we had.

dd1 hasn't had any reactions to the jabs and although she wasn't keen, I think they went better than she expected.