Does this news change your feelings about the HPV vaccine? (pregnancy, infections)

[no kudzu]

My girls are 11 and I have agonized about this ever since the vaccine first came out. Wonder if anybody has had a change of position with this news?
CDC: HPV vaccine reduced disease rates in teen girls by 56 percent - CBS News

[Raena77]

I think it's very important.

[rrah]

It's not something I was concerned about with my D. She was a teen when the vaccine first came out, and she had it. My son has also had the vaccine as males can carry the disease to females.

That said, I did not always jump on the latest vaccine. My kids were young when the chicken pox vaccine came out. I elected to skip it as the disease is generally not life threatening. Also at that time doctors recommended a booster at an age that would have put them in college. I could not imagine trusting a college kid to get a booster. They both had the chicken pox within a year or so.

[dogluvr2013]

When the vaccine came out, I didn't hesitate to get it for my daughter. I don't know why some people don't want their kids to have the vaccine. Just doesn't make sense to me at all.

[AnotherTouchOfWhimsy]

We won't be doing that one. We also skipped the chickenpox vax, but as my kids are getting into puberty and haven't had CP, they'll be having the shot next month at their well visit.

I'm not worried that they'll be more active or anything like that... I just don't see it as necessary. HPV typically clears up on its own, and it can be prevented through other means. There have also been some scary side effects linked to it. It's just not something that our family has elected to do. When the kids are older, if they decide to get it, that's fine.

[no kudzu]

Originally Posted by dogluvr2013

When the vaccine came out, I didn't hesitate to get it for my daughter. I don't know why some people don't want their kids to have the vaccine. Just doesn't make sense to me at all.

Because there have been some terrifying tales about illnesses and even paralysis after getting the vax. My neighbor's daughter was in the hospital for 3 weeks extremely ill right after she got it. At first nobody could figure out why the kid was sick but finally the doctor even acknowledged it was the vax. he and the mother of the kid (RN) did extensive research to the point the doctor stopped giving the shot to any of his patients and referred them to others who might do it.

I almost died from taking Premarin. It changed the entire course of my life. At the time all obgyns were telling their patients that all women should take HRT and they should take it for the rest of their lives. That thinking has definitely changed.

My cousin was married to a doctor who refused to let her take birth control pills when they first came out in the 60's. He said a med had to be on the market for 20 years before it was proved safe. Soon after that it was found that birth control pills could indeed cause strokes and other serious illnesses in some women. Thalidomide was prescribed in the 50's and 60's as a safe med before anybody realized it was causing severe birth defects. And what was the drug prescribed to lessen the chances of miscarriage which turned out to give the daughters born to women who took it cervical cancer? Another cousin had that happen to her and her mother, my aunt, was wracked with guilt over that.

I understand there is a fairly narrow time frame for young girls to take the vax for it to do the most good so it's not like we can wait till they are of age or even sexually active to get the vax.
I don't know what we are going to do but I'll visit at least 3 pediatricians, including the one who won't give it, before I make up my mind.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by AnotherTouchOfWhimsy

We won't be doing that one. We also skipped the chickenpox vax, but as my kids are getting into puberty and haven't had CP, they'll be having the shot next month at their well visit.

I'm not worried that they'll be more active or anything like that... I just don't see it as necessary. HPV typically clears up on its own, and it can be prevented through other means. There have also been some scary side effects linked to it. It's just not something that our family has elected to do. When the kids are older, if they decide to get it, that's fine.

90% of HPV infections clear on their own. The remainder cause 12,000 cases of cervical cancer, with 4000 deaths, every year. Only 1% of polio infections lead to paralysis, but during the polio epidemics of the 50s, that was a lot of paralysis (for comparison's sake). I honestly don't know what "other means" can prevent HPV. To put it bluntly, when you have s*x, you are having it with every one of your partner's partners.

No deaths have been attributed to the vaccine. Correlation does not equal causation.

http://www.cdc.gov/hpv/signs-symptoms.html

Originally Posted by no kudzu

Because there have been some terrifying tales about illnesses and even paralysis after getting the vax. My neighbor's daughter was in the hospital for 3 weeks extremely ill right after she got it. At first nobody could figure out why the kid was sick but finally the doctor even acknowledged it was the vax. he and the mother of the kid (RN) did extensive research to the point the doctor stopped giving the shot to any of his patients and referred them to others who might do it.

I almost died from taking Premarin. It changed the entire course of my life. At the time all obgyns were telling their patients that all women should take HRT and they should take it for the rest of their lives. That thinking has definitely changed.

My cousin was married to a doctor who refused to let her take birth control pills when they first came out in the 60's. He said a med had to be on the market for 20 years before it was proved safe. Soon after that it was found that birth control pills could indeed cause strokes and other serious illnesses in some women. Thalidomide was prescribed in the 50's and 60's as a safe med before anybody realized it was causing severe birth defects. And what was the drug prescribed to lessen the chances of miscarriage which turned out to give the daughters born to women who took it cervical cancer? Another cousin had that happen to her and her mother, my aunt, was wracked with guilt over that.

I understand there is a fairly narrow time frame for young girls to take the vax for it to do the most good so it's not like we can wait till they are of age or even sexually active to get the vax.
I don't know what we are going to do but I'll visit at least 3 pediatricians, including the one who won't give it, before I make up my mind.

I'm sorry for your problems with Premarin. There are lots of "horror" stories out there. Most of them are untrue, or gross exaggerations. We've also learned from some of these mistakes, like Thalidomide and hormones during pregnancy, and the menopause hormones.

Not all doctors feel a drug has to be out for 20 years before proven safe. And I'd bet that doc prescribes other meds that haven't been around for 20 years.

Our office has given literally thousands of doses of this vaccine, and we haven't seen anything other than simple fainting (common in teens with ANY procedure), and sore arms. The fainting can be eliminated by having the pt. lie down for the shot, and stay seated for 10 minutes afterward, also by the pt. eating something shortly before the injection. Sore arms can be greatly reduced by moving the arm around a lot after the shot. This vaccine is not the equivalent of Thalidomide or hormones. A vaccine stimulates the person's own immune system to produce antibodies, so the immune system thinks the person has already had the disease.

[Natsku]

It hasn't changed my feelings as I had already had decided that my daughter will get the vaccine (and all other vaccines available in my country) but its good to hear that disease rates are down 56%

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by no kudzu

My girls are 11 and I have agonized about this ever since the vaccine first came out. Wonder if anybody has had a change of position with this news?
CDC: HPV vaccine reduced disease rates in teen girls by 56 percent - CBS News

No kids, here. But I'll chime in as someone who contracted HPV and had to get 1/3 of my cervix removed, and thankfully didn't have to endure chemo or radiation because they caught the cancer in time:

If I was a kid, and this vax had existed, and I knew then what I know about it now, I would've been BEGGING my mother to let me get vaccinated. I don't know if mom would've let me or not. I think she probably would have; she's pretty progressive, moderately liberal, so the whole "thou shalt be a virgin until thou art 40" thing didn't exist in my house.

[Natsku]

I wish they had it when I was a kid as I just got abnormal pap results today although they didn't test for HPV but if it is I'm gonna feel pretty gutted that they didn't have the vaccine back then.