Cervical cancer vaccine

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2004
Cervical cancer vaccine
17
Tue, 08-22-2006 - 4:48pm

Are any of you ladies thinking of getting your daughters the vaccine? It has just be approved here. I am looking into finding more information about it before I talk to DD about it.

I have to admit, I am finding the suggested "age to be vaccinated" rather strange. Well, not really but more the assumption that if the girl is over 13, she is sexually active. I know more than a few girls who are not at 18.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-29-2005
Tue, 08-22-2006 - 5:14pm
I don't have daughters but if I did, HELL YES I would vaccinate against HPV. IMO cervical cancer is wayyy too deadly to get wrapped up in the is my daughter sexually active/encourages sex frame of thinking.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-20-2005
Tue, 08-22-2006 - 8:35pm
Thank you for that reminder. I've been so busy getting my DD's moved and settled for school to start that I'd forgotten about my intent to check into this. Thanks!
Avatar for sabrtooth
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-03-1999
Wed, 08-23-2006 - 1:43am
My dd is grown & married, and she has HPV. She will have to have her children by C-sect, IF she can get pregnant at all, since her cervix has been scarred by her prior surgeries. The doctors now say ALL cases of cervical cancer, no matter what the age of the patient, are caused by HPV. THe virus can remain dormant for YEARS, in both men AND women. It can be transmitted by touch as well as sexual contact; this is a WART virus. If a vaccine had been available when she was 13, you can BET I'd have vaccinated her, and if God sees fit to let us have granddaughters, they WILL be vaccinated.
Avatar for ivillage_sista
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 08-23-2006 - 9:34am

What a powerful post! I am sorry your daughter has HPV!

Avatar for elc11
Community Leader
Registered: 06-16-1998
Wed, 08-23-2006 - 12:59pm

I will definitely have my dd get it, and if it was available for males have my ds get it too. Anything that could help them make it through life with one less disease/medical problem is worth it! My dd20 was diagnosed with it a few months ago. Her routine pap smear found abnormal cells so she needed a biopsy and subsequent freezing of cells in a portion of her cervix. It has been frightening and traumatic and painful for her. It has been worrisome for me and expensive even with medical insurance paying part of the costs, and she will need to have frequent pap smears in the future and possibly more procedures so its not resolved by any means. Since condoms do not protect against it very well she knows that she can be reinfected. There is no test for males so no way to know if a partner has it. The doctor told her about the possibility of cervical scarring affecting her ability to conceive which upsets her because she hopes to one day have children; I had not heard that she may need to have C-sections. I am thankful that they found the cells as early as they did. This is one nasty silent disease.

You mentioned "the assumption that if the girl is over 13, she is sexually active". My understanding is that the young woman needs to vaccinated before contracting any of the viruses so they want to vaccinate her BEFORE she becomes sexually active. I had heard that it was tested on/considered safe and effective for females as young as 9 and they recommend that girls get it by age 11. They also recommend that young women get it even if they are/have been sexually active in case they have not yet contracted some of the viruses that it protects against. I don't think that there is an assumption of an age that women will become sexually active but rather choosing an age that is earlier than sexually activity would typically begin--like vaccinating against chicken pox or measles before a child is likely to be exposed.

It has been in the paper here that some people feel that being vaccinated will somehow "encourage" girls to become sexually active. Here, kids are required to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B for school and the major method of transmission of Hep B is through body fluids, mainly sexual contact and IV drug use. Does anyone recall if there were arguments that vaccinating kids against Hep B would encourage them to have sex and shoot up drugs?

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-29-2005
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 4:35pm

"Does anyone recall if there were arguments that vaccinating kids against Hep B would encourage them to have sex and shoot up drugs?"


No they really didn't. I don't think most people understand that Hep B is generally a sexually transmitted disease. Most people don't know the difference between Hep A, B, or C at all. Also, and maybe I sound crazy, but I think the primary reason the HPV

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 5:17pm

I didn't know this at the time, or I wouldn't have allowed my baby to have the vaccine, right after birth. There have been so many problems with the HepB vaccine, including some cases of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which is what my ds10 had for a short time until he went into "remission" at age 3. In the news a few years ago there was a baby who had systemic arthritis, much more serious, right after the vaccine. No one can tell what causes jra, but they are absolustely certain it's not the vaccine. Yeah, right.

I signed a waiver for my dd14 a few years ago, and now that she is older I'm re-considering. Perhaps they have ironed out all the "kinks" in the vaccine through the human/guinea pig trials by now.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 5:24pm

Hmmm. Well that is interesting. I don't think I'll be lining her up any time soon for the vaccine, but we'll see. Maybe I'll wait and see how the vaccine does in the general population. A few years ago, one of my friends went to get her flu shot and developed MS shortly thereafter. Of course, the doctors don't believe the vaccine caused the MS. What did? They don't know. MS and RA and JRA are all immunne conditions, and vaccines fool with the immune system. You will never be able to convince me it didn't have something to do with it. I know very intelligent, educated people who say the same. A few of my friends have never vaccinated their children against anything.

I have a dear friend who has HPV and it is a sexually transmitted disease. Will someone please tell me why the commercial doesn't say that? They make it sound like it's some kind of virus you can just "pick up".

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2004
Mon, 08-28-2006 - 2:23pm

Perhaps they don't want to "offend" people. There a few medication ads on TV that I have no idea what the medication is for!

The reason I posted the comment about the suggested age was that I am concerned that they will not encourgage girls over the age of 13 to get the vaccine,although it is recommended for young women up to the age of 26. Last night, I brought up the topic when two of DD's girlfriends were over. Unfortunately, I suspect it will be a "hard sell" with some parents/young women. They think that only "bad girls" can get it. Of course, we all know that is not correct.

I've been calling arround,finding out cost and availability. It takes 3 shots,over a 6-month period. So, my DD will have to do it at the university,not here at home. It is not available yet here but will be in a month or two.

I hope that the provincial government sees fit to offer it free as they have done with other
important vaccines. I will pay for it, no matter what.

Thanks Ladies for your responses.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 08-28-2006 - 10:38pm

my daughter just had a check up and we were offered this vaccine - but she was getting a Hep A vaccine at the same time... coupled with the fact that she is not sexually active I passed... we'll get it another time.

rachel
mom to savannah (14) and max (5)

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