HPV vaccine

[Italiangreyhound]

Not sure if I am posting this in the right place but is anyone else worried about the low take up of this vaccine?

uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/hpv-vaccine--why-are-some-parents-still-claiming-it-s--unnecessary---130851327.html

Does anyone have any worries about it for their kids?

Are you worried about any concerns about how it is presented or perceived?

E.g.

"The HPV vaccine has been proven to offer significant protection against cervical cancer, yet it seems many parents are still against their daughters having it.

New research released today showed that two in five parents still believe the vaccine against the human papilloma virus is 'unnecessary,' despite an increasing number of studies proving its effectiveness."

Those are take-up figures for the US though. Different cultural context, different health system, different health campaign etc. etc.

Figures for the UK

And Scotland

I heard on the news yesterday that in Australia teenage girls and boys are both vaccinated against it.

They also said that 8/10 of us here in the UK have had the HPV at some point in our lives.

I've followed the "vaccine debate" in the USA and a lot of it is right wing religious arguments about encouraging promiscuity among teenage girls etc. Thankfully that argument doesn't get much traction over here, but I'd love to see us go further like Australia and vaccinate all teens - boys and girls.

Thanks. CaptChaos those link didn't go to figures. Just interested to hear how we are doing in the UK.

I agree that both boys and girls should be vaccinated.

It's not just cervical cancer that this virus causes (as I learnt recently - thank you michael douglas! Although now he says he wasn't saying that ).

If you have both boys and girls vaccinated then you have much less of the virus in the population.

Someone on another thread pointed out that not providing it to boys was kind of unfair to boys who are gay.

I agree with that - focus on cervical cancer caused by HPV semen - while obviously needs addressing BUT if poss why not do something about all the other cancer risks + warts and so on at the same time. HPV seems to cause a raft of nasty stuff so if we can reduce it massively then do it I say. Costs will be recouped fairly quickly in not having to treat consequences of HPV.

Can I ask a question... when reading stuff about the HPV vaccine... they make a big deal about catching girls before they become sexually active because they want to get them before they catch the virus... (I think this explanation inflames the puritanical objections tbh, and it becomes more about refusing to believe girls should be sexually active as if having the vaccine will give them a green light, rather than seeing it as a measure to protect their health just like other vaccinations or smear tests.)

Anyway someone who missed out on the vaccine (by more than the catch up window I think - I'm 27) and has had sex, I find it frustrating that as far as HPV vaccine is concerned, when I lost my virginity I became damaged goods and unable/unworthy? to recieve this preventative health measure... is there no chance that I've missed the strains of HPV protected by the vaccine, just because I've had sex?

I don't exactly have an extensive sexual history

I guess I'm trying to figure out whether there are real clinical reasons why this vaccine is unlikely to benefit me and other women who have been sexually active, whether its a numbers game in terms of introducing it at a certain cut off or whether its slut shaming women who've had sex.

Apologies if its a foregone conclusion that I already have HPV and couldn't benefit from the vaccination, I may just be getting pissed off by the 'if you're not a virgin, you're damaged goods' subtext, it would be good to know if this is biological fact or a societal construct.

Nope. No concerns. My DD has had hers. However - I will also be paying to get my DS's the HPV jab, so that on the offchance that their future partners haven't had it, they can't pass these strains of HPV on to them.

That's the only but I don't agree with, the fact that boys aren't being given it too.

There ARE girls that can't have the HPV jab, for medical reasons, so I feel that boys should have it too.

Sorry Italian I hunted and could only find %. The figures would be more interesting though, I grant you.

More recent info. Each PCT as was had to monitor the uptake and report in. It's now under Public Health England and will be under the local area team dealing with screening and immunisation.

Is it the high schools that introduce it? What about religious ones do those girls get the same opportunity?

Spiritwolf I think you should ask your GP and try to get it. Please do tell us what they say, you may need to pay if you are out of age catchment but worth it is that is going to protect you. I am a lot (decades) older than you so not sure it would be worth much to me! But curious point, how old is too old for vaccine for HPV!!

Spirited, it may well be a health economics decision.

What happens when it runs out after six years?

Spirited, if I were still having sex with different people and didn't have the virus, no matter what my age, I'd get the vaccine. (Been married forever, so am not.) It's just that it doesn't help you if you already have the virus and it's a common virus, so doesn't make sense to do it for everyone - it's not that it doesn't make sense to do it for you. :)

My sons are getting the vaccine. My eldest (15) has had his first jab and is due his second this month. The last one is in a year (? can't quite remember, that might be wrong). My youngest will have his when he's about 14 / 15, too.