HPV Vaccine Requirement for 6th grade girls (blood, health issue, physician)

[weltschmerz]

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan

"Dear Prudence" from Slate, which runs in the Washington Post on Wednesdays, reported this: ""Let me start by using your experience as a public service announcement. My gynecologist told me he is seeing a startling rise in the number of young women in his practice being diagnosed with herpes. It turns out that they think having gotten the Gardasil shot to protect them from HPV, that they are invulnerable to other STDs -- and they're not!"

...and that's why we tell young women that they are protected ONLY against HPV when we give them the shot and that they should still take precautions.
To neglect doing that is very irresponsible.

[EEJ080690]

Originally Posted by arleigh

People get into more accidents with safety gear on than with out.
It is a false sense of security and people tend to do things they wouldn't otherwise .
A sex related vaccine is an encouragement to promiscuity ,a false sense of security .
Where is the deterrent to promiscuity if there are no consequences ?
And that is the actual bottom line.

Now that this post has been moved to the health and wellness forum I’d like to comment on what Arleigh had to say. Telling a woman that ANY sort of preventative health measure is encouraging her to be promiscuous is a ludicrous and sexist opinion. As woman, we’ve faced A LOT of discrimination involving others opinions of our bodies and sexual health. Whether a woman decides to get her annual PAP, use birth control (condoms, the pill, etc) and/or get the Gardasil shot I applaud her for it. The amount of people anyone sleeps with is up to him or her. Teens who are given the Gardasil shot and believe that it will protect them from other forms of STDs are simply not being educated- they are not sluts. Teens shouldn’t have to be scared into being abstinent because of fear that he or she will catch a disease; abstinence is a CHOICE. We do not need to blame medical advances in vaccinations for eliminating sexual deterrents. Before abortion was legal in most states women didn’t not have sex or even not get abortions. Instead it was done illegally in ways that permanently damaged and killed some women. People have always and will always have sex. Men and women who chose to be sexually active must also be sexually responsible. Shunning women or teens who chose to take preventative measures in their sexual health is wrong. This prehistoric mentality has never and will never work. It’s time to remove our heads from the sand and talk to our kids, be open and honest with them.

Haven’t you seen Mean Girls? “Don’t have sex because you will get Chlamydia and die,” is not sexual education. If kids don’t hear the TRUTH from the adults in their life, they turn to their friends. And the blind cannot lead the blind.

[SandyJet]

Biggest issue is Parents of Sons who want to hump women without condoms and then pass HPV to good girls.

They should be one getting shots not the girls.

[weltschmerz]

Originally Posted by Katiana

12 is a perfectly acceptable age. Actually, fewer than 2% of kids have had sex by age 12. Teens are actually waiting longer to have sex than in the recent past.

American Teens' Sexual and Reproductive Health
"Fewer than 2% of adolescents have had sex by the time they reach their 12th birthday. But adolescence is a time of rapid change. Only 16% of teens have had sex by age 15, compared with one-third of those aged 16, nearly half (48%) of those aged 17, 61% of 18-year-olds and 71% of 19-year-olds.[1] There is little difference by gender in the timing of first sex.

•On average, young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, [2] but they do not marry until their mid-20s.[3] This means that young adults may be at increased risk for unintended pregnancy and STIs for nearly a decade or longer.

•Teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past. In 2006–2008, some 11% of never-married females aged 15–19 and 14% of never-married males in that age-group had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995.[1] "

I work in a pediatric office, and we start recommending the HPV vaccine at 11-12.

All of us who are parents recommend starting in the younger teens, as kids are somewhat more willing to do what their parents want then than they are in their later teens. By later teens, they also feel they're invincible and it won't happen to them.

We start giving it in grade 4.
The age of medical consent here is 14. After 14, teens don't need parental consent. You'd be amazed at how many 14 yr olds ask me for the vaccine, but are terrified their parents will find out. The kids are sexually active but the parents are in denial.
"MY child isn't having sex. Other children are, but not MY child. I would know."
Guess what? You DON'T know, and I commend these kids for wanting to protect themselves.
If a 14 yr old kid wants the vaccine, I give it to them. I give them the proof of vaccination paper and tell them it's not my business what they do with it.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by SandyJet

Biggest issue is Parents of Sons who want to hump women without condoms and then pass HPV to good girls.

They should be one getting shots not the girls.

HPV vaccine is also recommended for boys.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Even if you are 100% certain that your daughter will remain 100% abstinent until marriage AND that her future husband will not have unwittingly contracted HPV from a prior partner--what if, God forbid, she is ever sexually assaulted. Or what if her husband cheats on her, contracts HPV, and passes it to your daughter. Would you rather she get cervical cancer?

I honestly don't understand how anyone could ever object to getting this vaccine for their child.

Exactly. Do people think their daughters will be lifelong virgins?

A woman has no way of knowing if her partner has HPV. Doesn't matter if he's her husband or not. There's no test for men.

[jessxwrites89]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Even if you are 100% certain that your daughter will remain 100% abstinent until marriage AND that her future husband will not have unwittingly contracted HPV from a prior partner--what if, God forbid, she is ever sexually assaulted. Or what if her husband cheats on her, contracts HPV, and passes it to your daughter. Would you rather she get cervical cancer?

I honestly don't understand how anyone could ever object to getting this vaccine for their child.

My mom wanted me to get it, but I absolutely refused. Why? I'm asexual and don't plan on having sex. However, something unfortunate did happen and health conditions prevented the full act, so I was fortunate in that respect. I think 6th grade is very young and at that age, it is up to the parents and I don't blame them. I don't know the full risks, but it should be something that is discussed with doctors or other health providers.

[transdimensionalhottie]

Not sure how accurate this is... but here is the link its from: HPV Vaccine VAERS Reports March 2012 - SaneVax, Inc.

Personally, I wouldn't get it. I think it should be your daughters choice if she gets it, she is old enough to decided. Layout the pros and cons to her, 6th grade is a great age to start talking to your kid about making their own medical choices, as they will have a lifetime of taking care of themselves. I would also, take her to the gynecologist, doesn't have to be a physical, this is a good age to have her sit down and just talk to one about her health, and her future health.

I would worry the most about all the reports of infertility it causes more than deaths and seizures. I do not have any links to back this statement.

[transdimensionalhottie]

Originally Posted by Katiana

12 is a perfectly acceptable age. Actually, fewer than 2% of kids have had sex by age 12. Teens are actually waiting longer to have sex than in the recent past.

American Teens' Sexual and Reproductive Health
"Fewer than 2% of adolescents have had sex by the time they reach their 12th birthday. But adolescence is a time of rapid change. Only 16% of teens have had sex by age 15, compared with one-third of those aged 16, nearly half (48%) of those aged 17, 61% of 18-year-olds and 71% of 19-year-olds.[1] There is little difference by gender in the timing of first sex.

•On average, young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, [2] but they do not marry until their mid-20s.[3] This means that young adults may be at increased risk for unintended pregnancy and STIs for nearly a decade or longer.

•Teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past. In 2006–2008, some 11% of never-married females aged 15–19 and 14% of never-married males in that age-group had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995.[1] "

I work in a pediatric office, and we start recommending the HPV vaccine at 11-12.

All of us who are parents recommend starting in the younger teens, as kids are somewhat more willing to do what their parents want then than they are in their later teens. By later teens, they also feel they're invincible and it won't happen to them.

Okay.... Well, this was a few years ago, in 2008. I had a friend who had a sister in middle school, us three had a blunt talk about sex because a few of her MIDDLE SCHOOL FRIENDS were pregnant. According to her, the majority of her school started to have sex in 6th/7th grade and only the "good girls and freaks" waited till 8th grade or 9th grade to have sex. She had also known three other girls in her 8th grade class who had abortions. The majority had sex at the mall, or in the woods behind the movie theater.

When I was in middle school in the 90s, I only knew 5 or 10 people lost their virginities in middle school, but she made it seem as almost everyone did now a days. And that was 6 years ago, I imagine its even more common in middle schools now.

But this is in florida, might be different in other states.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by transdimensionalhottie

Okay.... Well, this was a few years ago, in 2008. I had a friend who had a sister in middle school, us three had a blunt talk about sex because a few of her MIDDLE SCHOOL FRIENDS were pregnant. According to her, the majority of her school started to have sex in 6th/7th grade and only the "good girls and freaks" waited till 8th grade or 9th grade to have sex. She had also known three other girls in her 8th grade class who had abortions. The majority had sex at the mall, or in the woods behind the movie theater.

When I was in middle school in the 90s, I only knew 5 or 10 people lost their virginities in middle school, but she made it seem as almost everyone did now a days. And that was 6 years ago, I imagine its even more common in middle schools now.

But this is in florida, might be different in other states.

As they say, the plural of anecdotes is not data.

When I was in middle school, >50 years ago now, there was plenty of talk about girls who "did it" (no one seemed to care if guys were doing it) but the reality was that very few actually did have sex.