hpv vaccine

[beckaboop]

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 :)

at longtalljosie's point no 3 ! mental image just made me lol - sorry I know this is a serious subject

I'm obviously in the minority here and my reasons for persuading my 3 dds to not have it have to do mainly with testing. No testing (obviously) has been done on the target age group and it's too early for any long term effects to become known. Loads of other reasons also that have made me think it hasn't been tested enough. If, in 15 years time, this cohort of young women don't develop new strains of HPV, have no other related health problems and the rate of cervical cancer decreases then I will agree that the vaccine is a good thing. Hopefully along the way my dds will decide for themselves what they feel is right.

The NHS leaflet is all that most people read and obviously is not going to contain anything anti apart from a standard warning about a few side-effects.

HP My thoughts exactly.

This vaccine was pushed onto the market with very little testing at all which concerns me greatly.

The argument is that we cannot test for a generation while people are at risk but if something does go wrong it would be hellish.

I respect that people have their moral position but Newpup your DD may contract the virus from her one and only sexual partner. A virus like Hep c can be transmitted via sexual activity as well as other ways and is a long term killer. If there was a vaccine for this would you object to it being given to your DD. I'm not being flippant here but if god forbid your or my DD in the future contracts hpv then would you see it as a punishment for their lack of self respect? The only difference here though is my daughter wont contact the virus that leads to cervical cancer as I have protected her from that dreadful fate even if she goes against my desire for her to have self respect and safe sex. Sorry to be so harsh but I think your moral stance could put your daughters future health at risk.

Okay. I will say again. I do not think that having the vaccine will make girls more likely to have sex at a young age! I do not think it will make them more promiscous and I do not see H.P.V. as a puinishment for having sex!!

I simply feel that H.P.V. is a sexually transmitted disease and the emphasis should be on teaching young people not to have sex, not to have unprotected sex and to respect themselves. I am aware that you can catch H.P.V. from your only sexual partner BUT the chances of catching it are lower if all young people including boys are better educated.

I personally can not justify vaccinating my DD over educating her. I do not judge anyone who decides to go for the vaccine, it is their right to do what they feel is best for their DD.

I also have worries over the testing of the vaccine and share the same concerns as hocuspontis.

I do see your point emmamacca but just feel that it is the wrong road to go down.

My DD had the jab, no side effects. I was happy that she had it before she decides to be sexually active.

One of the key reasons was that I know 3 women with cancer from HPV. Two are my age (mid 40s). The third was 23 years old when diagnosed. SHe had only had two sexual partners, one was her long term live in boyfriend (who has subsequently fucked off).

She has had half her vulva and labia removed,her cervix, a large portion of wall seperating vagina and anus. A portion of bowel. At 23! She will never have kids, she will never have a sex life.

personally can not justify vaccinating my DD over educating her

But newpup it isn't either/or! You can do both, then she will be protected even if having sex within a moral framework later in her life.

I really don't understand your point, I'm sorry.

hocuspontashas said what I was going to say. My DD and I did a lot of research and she made an informed decision not to have the jab. There was a lot of pressure at school to have it - they didn't want her not having it, rather than respecting her decision. Of her entire year, she is only aware of one other girl who chose not to have it - approx 100 girls.
Personally I think regular testing for early detection should be in place the way it was when I was 18. And obviously use of condoms is always preferable, that goes without say.

I'm maybe missing the point here, but why is it not given to boys as well? Then it would prevent them being able to pass it on.

Discussed with DD and did not consent to the vaccine.

IMVHO I think Y8 is a bit young to give children a vaccine against a STI. OK I'm being a bit unrealistic as a lot of girls and boys are already active by that age...

Also, the vaccine was in it's first round of mass immunisation and I don't know that it was the most effective form of the vaccine, plus where are the long term studies both of any adverse affects and how long the vaccine stays active - what's the drop off point for effectiveness?

Might we be lulling our children into a false sense of security?

Same as teenagewildlife - the school was really cross and we had all sorts of repeat letters about allowing consent - even from our doctors. And DD was about one of 3 in a girls school not to have the jab. Really quite annoying as we had made a informed decision.

I am fine for her to get it when she's a bit older - say 16+.

Pixie - I am hoping that she won't be raped. And I should think if she WAS raped I would be far more concerned about supporting her putting her life back together than worrying about HPV. I would worry a lot more about her state of mind and her recovering to the point where she COULD have a relationship in the future.

I understand why it's year 8 - as I stated lots of kids are already messing around at that age, which I find indescribebly sad. Kids need to be allowed to be kids, there's so much pressure to get sexually active I am starting to support the concept of abstenance, tho how this is EVER going to be a practical promotion to young people I don't know...not a good seller...

You have the WHOLE of the rest of your life to have sex - 50+ years, but only 15 - 20 years of 'youthful innocence' IYSWIM. Too many young people are so willing to jump into bed, often with all the passion and love that anyone feels, but it's one thing that you can never take back. And once you've done it once, there's even more pressure to carry on being sexually active - you cross a threshold.

BUT my main objections (other than a slightly creepy feeling that we are basically admitting as a society that 12/13 year olds WILL be sexually active) are these

1. The vaccine hasn't had any long term studies done on it and I do object to my child being used by the NHS as a guinea pig

2. It is basically a first generation vaccine - if dd waits a couple of years then a more effective vaccine will probably be issued (tho now with the imminent financial cuts, we could have missed the boat on that one...)

3. No-one knows how long it remains effective - therefore are we going to be giving our young people a false sense of security...you ARE safe, oh no, sorry you've all exposed yourselves to HPV because you THOUGHT you had long term protection and were young and reckless like we all were at one time, but we hadn't done the studies yet to find out how long your protection would last. Not all vaccines last for the rest of your life IYSWIM.

I AM interested as to why BOYS aren't being vaccinated - I hadn't considered that before. Seems like the girls are having to take responsibility once again for the sexual health of the nation, without much input from the boys...

I work with HPV,Ive seen how much its "out there".

ive seen 15 year olds with cervical cancer caused my HPV.Ive seen 80 year olds with the virus but no cancer.I know how it works to cause the cancer.my daughters are/will be vaccinated as will my sons.

Everyone is entitled to their own views on this,to me its just another vaccine,this one just happens to be for a sexually transmitted disease,doesnt matter what type of disease it is,it could kill my child,its my job to protect her from that

Well said. I totally agree, if I had sons i would want them vaccinated as well. I can understand peoples reluctance to vaccinate due to the lack of long term studies however when balanced against the possible consequences of HPV I'd choose the vaccine. Also i'm sure I have read somewhere that HPV can cause throat cancers which means it's a cross gender threat.

My concerns are about side effects, rather than morality. My daughter is in year 7, but when the time comes it will be her choice. I do see the point in preventing this horrible disease, but I always worry about potential side effects, so that is something we need to decide about.

PixieOnALeaf said: "I know that she won't get HPV" - but the vaccine only prevents 2-4 types of HPV, which might be better than none, but is still no guarantee that our daughters won't pick up another strain of HPV. So it is not fool proof.

From this site:

"Does the vaccine protect against all types of HPV?
No, although there are more than 100 types of human papillomaviruses, only four (HPV 6, 11, 16, and 18) are covered in the Gardasil vaccine and only two (HPV 16 and 18) are covered in the Cervarix vaccine. HPV 16 and 18, however, are responsible for 70% of cervical cancers; HPV 6 and 11 cause approximately 90% of genital warts. Because there will be 30% of cervical cancers not prevented by the vaccine, it is important for women to continue getting regular Pap tests."

Also, at the moment they are unsure how long immunity will last, but it is likely that booster injections will be needed, so it is not a vaccine for life. The site above also mentions that it is advisable for men to receive it to prevent genital warts, but so far this obviously hasn't been made common practice. I think it should be given to men and women if it's going to have maximum effect.