What is your opinion on the Gardasil vaccine for HPV?

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Even at 10 parts per million occurrence of complications, the ride over to the clinic is more likely to hurt you than the shot is. In evaluating risk, the question is not one of avoiding risk, but rather, whether one thing is more dangerous than another. Another issue is coincidence vs. causation. Vaccines were blamed for autism because autism is often diagnosed at a time that happens to coincide with giving vaccines to children.

Hiding out and remaining or becoming abstinent and maybe getting a summer job sounds like a good idea, until you've thought this through some more, and when you've saved enough money and are old enough, you may go and get the vaccine without needing your parents' permission or needing them to pay for it.

I got this vaccine several years ago. I did not experience any ill effects.

I have had the first two shots and will be going back for the third in October. No ill effects whatsoever. My sister had it too, and she's fine. I have not heard of anyone I know having any ill effects at all from the Gardasil vaccine.

I do, however, know of about half a dozen women who have had cervical abnormalities and have had to have various painful procedures to destroy abnormal, pre-cancerous cells caused by HPV. One woman I know has had two procedures, still has pre-cancerous cells, and may not be able to have children. And these are just the women that I know well enough that they feel comfortable to tell me about their health problems.

Statistics show that HPV is extremely common. You are much, much more likely to have significant, painful health problems from HPV than from the vaccine. Obviously the choice is yours. My personal risk-benefit analysis came out clearly in favor of getting vaccinated, and I am happy with my choice.

I'm going to be perfectly honest with you.

I have HPV.

I caught it when my partner was wearing a condom.


I recently had a cervical cancer scare, and during my research found out that:
*HPV infection AND early-stage cervical cancer can be completely asymptomatic
*the five-year survival rate drops from 80-90% for Stage I to 50-65% for Stage II, 25-35% for Stage III, and 15% or less for Stage IV

What's the harm in getting the vaccine, compared to the potential risk of not getting it?


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I wish they had it when I was a kid/teenager.

I'm going to make sure my daughter gets the vaccine before she reaches her teens.

I refused one until I was too old, and will refuse it for my daughter. It's ridiculous to vaccinate against something you can only get through sexual activity.

Actually, the HPV virus that Gardasil protects against is also associated with an increased risk for oral and throat cancers and it can be transmitted via kissing.

I'm not sure why that makes it ridiculous. I try to think about this in abstract terms when it comes to my own child, but sexual activity happens. Even if you were to watch your teenager like a hawk 24/7 and not let her get within ten feet of a boy, you couldn't make sure her future partner is remaining chaste and pure and not picking up any STIs in the meantime.

If you have a daughter, then you probably had sex at least once, right? Don't assume your daughter will be asexual or nearly asexual. It doesn't take a lot of activity to get a disease. I thought it was ridiculous when a few years back religious groups had presented arguments against preventing disease caused by sinful sexual activity, I guess on the grounds that god intends for sinful people to be sick. I suppose that if polio were known to be sexually transmitted (and it might be, among other routes of transmission), then an argument might have been formulated against vaccinating for polio...



Even if a teenager refrains from sex until the age, of say, 25, or maybe 35, eventually that person will be exposed to pathogens and will need protection then.

I am not going to vaccinate against a disease that can be prevented through safe sexual practices. I will teach my daughter about safe sex, which includes getting any future partner screened before having sex with them.

HPV rarely even causes cancer, anyway. Not with today's rigorous screenings.

I had the vaccination (my mum sent my sisters and I to have it done) as they were giving it out free to young women (16-28 I think). I have suffered no ill effects.

Seriously, you can get it from kissing and it is associated with oral and throat cancers. If you can get it from kissing, then it's not out of the realm of possibility that you could get it from accidentally drinking out of the wrong glass. You really should investigate this further before you decide not to give it to your child.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE54B61920090512

"French" kissing ups risk of oral HPV infection

NEW YORK | Tue May 12, 2009 3:05pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Oral sex and open-mouthed "French" kissing increase the risk of acquiring oral infections of human papillomavirus, or HPV, a study shows.
"Our data suggest that oral HPV infections that could predispose to cancer may be transmitted by very common behaviors such as open-mouth or 'French' kissing," Gillison concluded.

+1 on the kissing discussion.

Safe sex? Condoms? You can get HPV even with condoms. I had planters' warts (a form of HPV you get on the bottom of your feet) when I was a teenager, and I caught it without ever having put my foot up anyone's butt (though at times I've been tempted). There's not a good blood test for HPV because HPV lives in a very specific group of skin cells. Also, many contagious HPV infected individuals are asymptomatic. True, the cancer risk may be small, but any protection you can get at 27 or 28 is not too late, and it is worth having even if you have to pay for it yourself like I did.

I'll second all that. The estimates I've read say that greater than 50% of the population that has sex at least once will have HPV in their lifetime. According to the CDC, in 2006 11,982 women in the U.S. were told that they had cervical cancer, and 3,976 women died from the disease. This does not include oral and throat cancers associated with the virus or vaginal and vulvar cancers associated with the virus. Remember, regular screenings are excellent for catching MOST cases when they are early, but that doesn't mean some cases get missed due to improper sampling, handling, pathologist error, etc. There will be women who get screened according to the guidelines and still end up with advanced cervical cancer by the time it is detected.

Don't get me wrong, I have a pretty low opinion of pharmaceutical companies and some of the products they push. But I've been interested in public health for many years and taken courses in epidemiology--the Gardasil vaccine is a no-brainer in my book and if I had kids they would get it at age 9, whether boy or girl. It has been out for several years and all data collected suggest that it has an excellent safety profile.

I am not saying you should listen to me or anyone else on this forum, but you should find a reliable resource for information about HPV and the vaccine and do your own research before making this very important decision for your children. It could potentially mean the difference between life and death.

They don't screen guys for HPV, TeaEarlGreyHot, and I don't know how to teach my daughter how to be a psychic who can pick a guy who doesn't have those viruses and will never stray and pick them up somewhere. I also think that having cervical cancer is likely an unpleasant experience that it would be nice to avoid, even if it isn't usually fatal.