HPV - Totally Unnecessary Vaccine for Young Girls?

Question

I live in Texas. Perry is trying to make it mandatory that sixth grade girls be forced to get a vaccine for HPV (which can be a precursor to cervical cancer). I consider myself pro-vacc, but even I find this one to be totally unnecessary and I plan on refusing and fighting tooth and nail if this becomes an issue when my daughter is that age. This vaccine has just been put on the market, and even though the CDC/FDA is billing it as "safe", it is NOT imperative that a girl have to take it. From what I've read, HPV, even though strains of it are more common than we think, is mostly an STD. This vaccine should be completely voluntary to PRE-TEEN/TEENAGE girls who are on the verge of being sexually active NOT young girls, and not mandatory. You can't GIVE someone HPV by having an unvacc'ed kid in the classroom. And of course it has to be Texas to be the first state to try and do this. Anyone else's thoughts on this?

Ok, in case no one saw this: i don't think it is necessary for GIRLS UNDER TEN. If she has sex at 14, 15 that's another thing, but that is too young. Even in this society, that's young. Chastity isn't the issue here, because I wasn't chaste before marriage by any means. This isn't a prude thing. I see no need for this vaccine to be mandatory since you can't contract HPV in any way like you would say measles.

Answer 1

Numerous other states are immunizing with the vaccine but just not making such a big media splash about doing so.

My daughter does childbirth education in Texas. Many of her clients are unwed mothers under age 15 who come from deeply conservative families who do not think their kids are sexually active and that they don't need any sex education at all. The kids come into the system pregnant and with multiple sexually transmitted diseases at 13-14 years of age. Obviously letting these parents guide their kid's sexual education 100% simply doesn't work very well.

I don't think there are any easy answers about the vaccination question. I think Perry made a big mistake trying to make political points by announcing the vaccination program the way he did. I know that as long as there remains no sex ed or vaccination program of some kind that very young girls in Texas will continue to have high rates of STDs and have large numbers of children out of wedlock and that is never a good thing. A 14 yr old can not be a good parent regardless of how much money her parents have or what help she gets.

Answer 2

First, let me start off by saying that I am a native Texan.

Next, let me tell you my story. When I was 16 (and still thought I was a heterosexual), I had unprotected sex with a young man. I ended up with the HPV virus. I didn't even know I had it. There were very dramatic and severe warts all over (even around my rectum), before I told my mother. The treatment for the warts back then were excruciatingly painful, so bad I would scream after the treatments. Needless to say, I had minimal, if any, support from my mother.

Fast forward to age 29. I went to see a gynecologist, who called in an OB/Gyn/Oncologist (a women's private parts cancer doctor). I was eaten up with cancer. That's right. The big C. I was immediately scheduled for surgery the next week.

Recovery was nearly unbearable. You cannot sit up at all. You have to lie down. Going to the restroom to urinate was a religious experience. You do this for nearly two weeks.

I have had to go through this experience eight times through the years, and each time I felt is was worse than the last.

I am now cancer-free, and have been for four years. I'm not in the clear until 2008.

Would you want your kid to go through this? What if they didn't survive the cancer?

You might be asking: "Would the HPV shot increase your sexual activity?" The answer is NO! I was not promiscuous, and I was pretty much a good kid. I just happened to have unprotected sex ONE TIME. My sex life at that age was minimal to non-existent.

My view is this: If a mandatory vaccine will save a young lady embarrasment, HPV and cancer, isn't it worth it? And the whole argument of "they will become promiscuous if we vaccinate them" holds absolutely no water.

Take it from a person who once had cancer years after having HPV...prevention by immunization is much better than the suffering.

Answer 3

Yeah: it is a good vaccine and certainly worth getting. I haven't formed an opinion on whether it should be mandated or not, but if I had daughters they'd have been the first ones in line.

Yeah, the strains of HPV the vaccine prevents are sexually-transmitted. I don't see how that changes anything - it still prevents the most common high-risk HPV infections that lead to the majority of cervical cancers. It is optimally given to younger girls to ensure that they have not been sexually active - the vaccine must precede infection.

The sticking point with this vaccine is the sexual nature of it, which I really don't understand. If there was a vaccine developed to prevent skin cancer, would you deny it to your children? Even if your daughters remain chaste until they are married (as 90% will not), they could still easily acquire the infection from their husbands and later develop cervical cancer. Getting it as the approach sexual maturity ensures that they are covered during that period as well, just in chase.

Answer 4

LOL I read you question on the home page of YA answers and my first thought "this person lives in Texas". I live in NM (parents live in Texas) so I have been paying very close attention to this.
I think this gonna backfire.
Perry is trying to designate Texas as a parent. By forcing the shot I feel the message is sent stating "All girls are tramps by the 6th grade" which as a parent that would piss me off.
I was telling my mother last night that the funny thing is, is if this shot had a few more years testing behind it anf then designated safe, then most likely I would get the shot for my daughter when she got that age. I mean I am of the reality that while I know I teach my daughter about sex, std's and other implications of sex...basically arming her with the information to make good decisions....I dont have the certainity to know exactly what she will do when she reaches her teen years. I know I can tell myself a hundred times "she would never do that" but I dont know that for sure. So as far as the shot goes it would indeed be better to take the precaution. Yet if someone were tell me my daughter HAS to get the shot then thats gonna piss me off, and actually deter me from having her get the shot!

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Answer 6

I'm taking a pragmatic approach. While I admit that I resent the gov't trying to force the issue, I don't see how it's going to hurt their health. If they get the vaccine now, it helps prevent cervical cancer later. That can't be a bad thing.

I think as long as parents are allowed to opt out of the vaccine, it's no big deal. The sexual implications bother me somewhat; it's kind of like saying "Here - you've been vaccinated. Now you can have all the sex you want and not get cancer." I don't have a girl, but I'd definitely make sure she understood that the vaccine wasn't a free pass to do whatever she wanted.

Answer 7

I live in TX also...and I feel the mandatory vaccine is in no way the responsibility of the state. I don't have young children at home, but I would still protest the bill. I do think, the immunization should be the parents responsibility, and at an appropriate time and age. Some girls might become sexually active earlier than others and not tell her parents, for whatever reasons. This mgiht be an argument for the shots, but I still think the final decision should rest with the girl and her family.

Answer 8

My one question is how do you know you daughter wiil not become sexually active in the near future? Are you 100% sure she will tell you if she decides to have sex when she does decide to have it? I agree that things shouldn't be forced on anyone butttttttttttttt I do think that this is a very very very important issue and sixth grade is not to young to start with all of this as the age of sexual maturity is getting younger and younger. Unless you know 100% for sure that you child will never have sex without protection it is a wise move to have the child vaccinated as caner is not pretty.

Answer 9

I agee with you. I absolutely do not think that a girl should be vaccinated at that age. As well, this vaccine is new. There is no record of the long term effects so - if you do have a choice for right now I would forego it & have many heart to heart talks with your daughter as she gets to the age that she might be thinking of having sex.

My daughter age 20, asked me to find out what our doctor thinks of the vaccine. His explanation to me is that HPV should be treated as an STD and as long as the girl doesn't have multiple partners & is using condoms everytime she has sex then she will be safe.

Good luck in the fight should there be one......

Answer 10

in the short run, you are right to be concerned, its much too soon to be making this drug mandatory, if you do get forced to have your child vaccinated, make careful documented notes of all of the particulars and the people involved, regardless of their affilaiation or political status, a wrongful injury suit in the future goes a long way in getting their attention. tell them to make sure they keep up the payments on their malpractice insurance, especially the polititions. your other choices are to take your chances on the disease, move to another location, pray that she`s not already infected.. what ever the outcome good luck, you and all of the other mothers are gonna need it... ps in the late 1950s there was a vaccine that was sent out in much of the same fashion as this new one, while it didn`t do anything to the girls them selves, it caused horrible mass birth defects to their offspring in later years that were irreversible, that should be readily available in the google archives. as a ready info source.