Would you give your daughter the HPV vaccine?

Question

There is a firestorm in TX over this...our governor has given an executive order requiring it, and people are upset. Why? I'm in nursing school and had a 26 year old patient who just delivered a baby and the doctor noticed that she had stage 4 cervical cancer and is to die within a few months. A simple shot could have protected her, and her baby would grow up w/ a mommy. Why is the world in such denial. NEWSFLASH: Your daughter will have sex...sometime in her life. Even if she is monogamous, her husband may not be. Why these puritan ideals as our STD rates sky rocket? What is your opinion on this issue?

Mike--you obviously don't love your daughter very much...and I like how you can't even say why.....I bet your daugther will be more promiscous than mine...the repressed ones usually are.

Answer 1

I'm a pediatric nurse in Texas. I've worked for the last 4 years in pediatric neurology. My daughter will not be getting the HPV shot unless and until she becomes an adult and decides to get it on her own.

The Executive Order that Gov. Perry put out does NOT require girls to get the shot. Go read it. It places it on the list of recommended shots. In fact, NO SHOTS are required ANYWHERE in the US. That is a lie that has been told so many times that people don't even know that they don't HAVE to have mercury and aluminum injected into their kids. Schools TELL you that they are required, but, in fact, the fact is that the shots are RECOMMENDED.

The HPV shot has NOT been properly tested. The American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and many others have gone on record stating that they do not recommend the use of this vaccine on ANY children due to the lack of data.

I have dealt with more cases of post-innoculation autism than I can count. I tell everyone who wants to get their kids immunized that they should make SURE that the vaccine given is from the 10% batches that don't have thimerosal (the mercury containing preservative). The HPV itself doesn't have thimerosal, but it does have a significant amount of aluminum.

Aluminum has shown to have a significant effect in the blood-brain barrier. It has been linked with Alzheimers for years. Mercury causes a neurological storm when introduced into the cerebral cortex.

Don't believe the paid-for hype that lobbyists generate in your politicians. Don't believe ANYTHING that you read in the paper or see in the news. Do your own research and find out the facts for yourself. With the internet, it's easy to do.

Life isn't a soundbite. Instead, take a big bite out of that fruit of knowledge and smile when your eyes are opened to see that you have been lied to for most of your life.

Answer 2

I want to give you the best answer available:
The HPV shot protects against 70-80% of the serious cancer causing types of HPV included in the shot are two HPV types that cause venereal warts.
My statement is this and the future will show this to be true:
Why leave out 20% of cancer causing HPV and put in 2 wart types??
Merck the same company that bought you the Vioxx scandal is why!!
In the future there will be a shot for all the serious HPV serotypes. So... you can vaccinate now and then again in a few years about the time the patents go off and the current vaccine is available to everyone at a much cheaper price. But what will happen is everyone will want the newer vaccine and will basically get rid of the current one because it only protects against 70-80%
Its called marketing.
Ask your daughters if this is a good thing. Let them know that Merck and the other current developers are giving them wart vaccine rather than the ones that actually prevent cancer!!
But things such as they are unfortunately I would still give the vaccine. But I will educate each and every person as to the truth of this whole thing. I have met other medical people who didnt realize this. The amazing thing is that Merck and the other current vaccine developers get away with this stuff!! "I cant include all the major serotypes because of techincal challenges" Give me a serious and major techical challenge break!!
I hope this post seriously angers everyone including Merck and they decide not to hide and give serious accountablility for this!!! Basically 20-30% of lethal cancers in the post vaccination era would have been preventable!!

Answer 3

Wow, the story you just told should really make people think. I am a mother and I thought out this process and people are looking at it the wrong way. Some mothers see it as it gives a daughter an excuse to go ahead and have sex. To me it wasn't a factor due to the fact that I sat down and discussed this with my daughter and I told her that if when she was 30 or whatever age and she did have cervical cancer and I didn't allow her to receive shot I would hate myself thinking I could have prevented this and I feel that this is what the mothers need to think about if they really care about there daughters. You know how anything new is a very big topic of discussion and wondering what if well it isn't if it comes to saving your daughters life. As you very well stated.. even if she is monogamous doesn't mean her partner will be. Please, as a nurse one person can make a difference please pass on the knowledge to other mothers you may know. You sure helped me think I did make the right decision for my daughter. Also, keep in mind this shot is good up to five years and then it will need to be given again. I think they should at least be 13 or older.

Answer 4

I think its a great idea for anyone.
Children need protection from their own decisions sometimes. I don't see this as green light for my daughter to have sex but if she does then she'll be a bit more protected from things that may harm her. It'll help keep her from getting HPV and possibly cancer, its a win, win situation if you ask me.

Mind you, she's 3 now (my daughter) I've got to hope and pray that I raise her in a way that helps her make good decisions. I just need to be there to guide her in the right direction and also be there for her when she takes a detour from the right path... That is all any parent can do. The problem is that it comes to a point when the bad decisions and actions of others are going to affect her and I won't be there..... Hopefully something I did or said in the past will be of help and she'll be okay. Who knows, maybe having her get that shot will be it..... maybe her baby will have a mommy to be there always...to love and protect....

I must add that because of my daughters age I have the luxury of time. When she is old enough for the vaccine it will have been out long enough and used widely enough that there should be very little questioning, of none at all, about how or if it works and the possible side effects. ....

Answer 5

My daughters will NOT be receiving the new vaccine.

When compared to death rates among other conditions HPV induced cervical cancer is no where near the top.

The vaccine received approval less than a year ago, so was not available to help your patient.

The track record of new vaccines is spotty at best. Many side effects may not show up for years. HIV/AIDS may have been introduced to the general population during trials of a Hep B vaccine in New York and Africa.

The fact that so many politicians are raising this as an issue, when the medical reality does not warrant the overreaction of mandatory implementation, gives me reason for caution.

This issue more than likely boils down to some effective lobbying by the pharmaceutical company. Money in the politicians pocket always seems to bring out the most public "concern" over these kinds of issues.

Mandating the use of this vaccine is very premature.

I think it is a much wiser approach to have those that wish to use their children as guinea pigs be allowed to do so, so that any side effects can be documented before I give it to my daughters.

Answer 6

People are probably upset because they feel they should have a right to decide for themselves. This is a great breakthrough though-yes I would give my daughter the vaccine(I want one too!) Psychics even predicted this vaccine being made available this year-and I was amazed at the accuracy of this prediction. On another note, since they just made abortion before the age of 18 illegal(here in Oregon), I wouldn't want to hear about another baby growing up without it's mother, due to a virus which is now preventable, so that is another reason why I would vote yes.

Answer 7

I was just talking with friends about this executive order in Texas. The consensus (umm..five ladies for after work drinks, two Repubs, two Dems, and an Independent) among us ended up being that yes, all young girls should have this vaccine. The claim that it will make young girls think it's okay to be promiscuous doesn't make any sense. Yes, it's sexually transmitted (which means a straying husband or boyfriend can transmit it to her without her knowledge), but it's not of a nature that promotes sexual activity. We all decided it's time to use some common sense. Does any woman here remember what it was like that first time you gave in and had sex? Please take note that even "good" girls can lose their homonal little minds in the heat of teenage passion, no matter their upbringing. We parents count ourselves, and them, lucky if they remembered to use protection. Does anyone seriously believe these girls were ever going to reject having first time sex because they were worried about cervical cancer? Young girls don't think about that - they may think about pregnancy, a run of the mill STD, or HIV, but cervical cancer? These people are giving a young girl way too much credit for critical thinking at a time when she is locked in an embrace with her boyfriend and her hormones are raging and she's having enough trouble controlling her passion and conscience at the same time. If they think a girl in this state is logical enough to say to herself "Wow, I had my vaccine for HPV when I was 12, it must be okay to have sex now" they are living in Fantasyland.

Part of a parent's job is protecting their children, from all the evil possibilities of life if we can. This is one of them and who would deny their daughter a vaccine for lifetime protection against a virulent cancer? Unfortunately there are parents out there who put blinders on about their own children. As parents we give them the best advice we can, we talk to them about abstinence and birth control if they fail at abstinence, at least if we're responsible and smart. But the reality is that not all kids are going to make that mark, they are human. Are some parents really willing to take that chance with their own daughter's life when that risk can be prevented? I know there are parents like this out there, and that is amazing to me.

Answer 8

i wouldnt think it would be needed before age 12 but it surely is needed by college time, so its a good idea, if its safe as a medication then why not use it, god people are hiding their heads in the sand if they think their children arent indulging in sex. I wish my daughter could have had the shot, at least she knew she had a situation and shes kept a close check on it and a leep treatment helped her stave off the cancer a little longer, both my mother and i had to have hysterectomies because of this nasty cancer.

Answer 9

First, my answer to your question is NO. Secondly, who are you to insult someone who responded to your question (MIKE) the way you did by saying that he obviously doesn't love his daughter very much. Pretty obvious that you just want AGREEMENT not opinion. Sounds to me that he loves her very much. How long has this been tested? Will this be just ANOTHER drug that will be found to be unsafe in the future? Heard of thalidomide? How about the drug given to women in the 60's and 70's to prevent miscarriage? Look at the problems some of those now grown children have who's mother's took that . This just sounds irresponsible to me.
Also, don't bet the farm that his daughter will be more promiscuous than yours. I love how some people try to make themselves feel better about what their own kids are doing by pointing fingers at everyone else and saying things like that. Repressed? How about moral?
You say you are in nursing school, and yet you make such inconsiderate insulting statements like that. Not very compassionate, and not very open to others.

Answer 10

I'm with you, all the way. There is a possible question about whether the governor has, or should have, the authority to prescribe this, but I see it as a public health issue, for which regulations of this sort (already in place for measles and a number of other diseases) are entirely appropriate.