Assistance please - why Sex not Gender on Immunisation Form?

[gardenbird48]

Hi all, I contacted Virgin Healthcare to ask why they use Gender instead of Sex on their forms and have had a nice response that they are reviewing the use of Sex or Gender (Options: Male/female/other) in response to several parents requesting that Gender is used instead of based.
I am drafting a response to make the point that Sex is hugely important for medical situations - there are sex specific immunisations (can’t remember what atm) - Rubella? so surely they need to know whether they are vaccinating a boy or a girl? I’m not sure if there are any dosing differences between the sexes at that age but can anyone help with any other relevant points please?

Interesting point. Research has found that 'males tend to have higher antibody titers to both tetanus and diphtheria than females' so at least with that vaccine it matters a bit... Although the research below is in the elderly and I think changing genders perhaps less common in much older people than now?

link www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4630198/

This is quite an interesting subject actually IMO

'Females typically develop higher antibody responses and experience more adverse reactions following vaccination than males.'

from

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25573105/

Do pursue this. I scratched out ‘gender’ and replaced it with ‘sex’ on my kid’s flu vaccination form last year. This year they have reverted to ‘sex, and even better, they have replaced the blank box with 3 options - male, female, do not wish to answer. Of course, I’m taking full credit for that!

I just came on here to ask about this - we have a e-consent form where options are gender -male, female, prefer not to say. No paper form and I cant easily see where to contact them to say how irrelevant a question that is.

@umbel

Do pursue this. I scratched out ‘gender’ and replaced it with ‘sex’ on my kid’s flu vaccination form last year. This year they have reverted to ‘sex, and even better, they have replaced the blank box with 3 options - male, female, do not wish to answer. Of course, I’m taking full credit for that!

The form I just filled in for my child's flu vaccination still refers to gender. So different Trusts may have different policies, which is bonkers. I took great satisfaction in crossing it out and writing "sex". However, it only had male or female as the gender options, so now I am thinking that maybe they are using "gender" in the euphemistic sense, rather than in acceptance that gender feelz spectrum has any relevance to medical treatment.

I was going to say that only girls get the HPV vaccine, but I see that's now given to boys as well. I don't know of any other sex based differences, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some. What possible use is knowing someone's gender identity?

Just crossed out gender and written sex on the flu vax form here too.

Are ther still any sex spesific vaccines as part of the standard set? Rubella is now part of the MMR, so given to both sexes. HPV was the other which was just the girls when DD had hers, but that's been brought in for boys now as well. DS was due to have his at school this year, but cancelled due to lockdown.

HPV was the only one I could think of currently (is it being rolled out to boys nationally, do you know, giggling? ) Back in the mists of pre-history when I were a lass, only girls got the rubella jab, but it's now part of the standard baby immunisation programme.

The yellow card pharmacovigilance reporting system uses sex therefore to be able to fully report an adverse reaction to the vaccine they would have to provide the sex of the patient (although yellow cards can be sent with minimal information too)

I'd be inclined to point out that recording gender means they are capturing unnecessary data which is against GDPR because only sex is medically relevant for immunisations so that adverse affects can be compared by sex

Because in medicine, biology matters. Not how you feel or dress.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/13/the-female-problem-male-bias-in-medical-trials

Hi all, I contacted Virgin Healthcare to ask why they use Gender instead of Sex

I suspect that in most cases they are using 'gender' as a 'polite' way of saying 'sex'.

The HPV vaccine being rolled out to boys was mentioned when Gardasil was launched way back (2005/6 ish IIRC) pretty much for the same reason that Rubella was given to boys as part of MMR - the objective is to reduce the circulating virus. So with Rubella, boys would not be able to pass it onto unvaccinated pregnant women. With HPV my memory isn't great on the specific types, but i think 2 were resonsible for cervical cell changes and the others genital / anal warts in general, which of course males are just as vulnerable to.

but merry why do they need to be polite? Should they use winkle instead of penis?

Regarding Sex vs Gender, it does matter in terms of medical outcomes, not just for vaccination response. I was another pissed off parent who contacted my LHA last year regarding the flu form stating 'gender, boy or girl'. I was told it would be changed with immediate effect but that the form I got had been taken from a central template. I did point out that if they got a load of adverse reactions, they needed to know whether it was sex linked. And to really drive the point home, I said given that there was gender diversity in ever younger children, if my female child identified as a boy, which box should I tick?

Also the WHO list Gender as behavioural and Sex as biological www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/knowledge/glossary/en/

And the NHS online form it points out that some clinical assessments are different based on your sex. I hope you can read the screenshot!

Finally male and female are not genders, they are sexes. If they want to placate the parents who want to have gender on the form, they could ask for both sex AND gender.

I am so disappointed that a healthcare company would have this issue. For fuck's sake.

@merrymouse

Hi all, I contacted Virgin Healthcare to ask why they use Gender instead of Sex

I suspect that in most cases they are using 'gender' as a 'polite' way of saying 'sex'.

Hi Merrymouse they said ‘Gender’ was in response to some requests by parents so presumably more to it than just ‘polite’ talk.

@AlsoNotAGirl

I'd be inclined to point out that recording gender means they are capturing unnecessary data which is against GDPR because only sex is medically relevant for immunisations so that adverse affects can be compared by sex

Hi Also thanks - that is a great one :-))

Easy to fix - ask for biological sex, male/female/choose not to answer then have a box asking for pronoun preference (also optional)

Adding a blank asking for additional information is also helpful, as someone who is trans may want to specify what transition changes they’ve undergone, if any, in order to get the best care.

Then the docs know what to do medically, and also how to refer to their patients to make them most comfortable. Everyone wins.

@umbel

Do pursue this. I scratched out ‘gender’ and replaced it with ‘sex’ on my kid’s flu vaccination form last year. This year they have reverted to ‘sex, and even better, they have replaced the blank box with 3 options - male, female, do not wish to answer. Of course, I’m taking full credit for that!

I did this last week! Crossed out gender and wrote SEX in big letters on DS's flu consent form. If we all do this they may start to wonder if there just might be an issue.

Hi Merrymouse they said ‘Gender’ was in response to some requests by parents so presumably more to it than just ‘polite’ talk.

Idk this is hard to say. Some people Really are puritanical and think sex Is a dirty word

Other people have just heard “gender is the more inclusive term” without really knowing anything about trans issues.

I could see either group asking for it to be changed.

The flu one I just did referred to sex. It was really good actually: sex, with options of female, male, indeterminate and prefer not to say (I think I am right that that was the final category).

Some people Really are puritanical and think sex Is a dirty word

In 2020? Really?
Not conflating sex and gender simply matters too much to give weight to that sort of thinking (if it genuinely still exists).
they said ‘Gender’ was in response to some requests by parents

Which makes it all the more important that parents who come across gender where it should be sex to request it's corrected, with sensible reasons.

Thanks all - I’ll let you know how I get on :-)

Loving everyone’s work here and good luck gardenbird