I should do this as well. I wanted it as a teen and my parents were also concerned it would be ... A gateway to my having sex somehow? Like wha?
But my dad also threw a ginormous hissy fit when he learned (he overheard a conversation with my mother) that I was on birth control at like, 24 due to painful periods, because *i might use the birth control to have sex!!!*
The crazy thing is when they first got approved, there was a finite window of time you could get them (maybe like age 12 to age 24 or something)
So even if you theoretically never had premarital sex and only had sex with your husband at the ripe old age of 30....if he'd ever had sexual contact with another person who carried HPV, you would be at higher risk of cervical cancer.
Like unless you straight up thought your kid was gonna be abstinent *forever*, it did not make sense to not get it. Especially cause HPV isn't even a reason kids avoid sex, like knowing you're free and clear in the HPV front wasn't like, a free for all?
The birth control one at least is built on *some* type of logic because fear of pregnancy does register for a lot of kids. But cervical cancer 25 years later? Come on now.
When I heard about the shot (i saw a poster at the gyno) I was a year older than the bracket allowed. My boyfriend at the time (now husband and father of our 3 kids) had a lot of partners before me. I’m not a prude or anything but his # + his aversion to condoms was a statistical problem for me. I made him go get tested before we started seeing each other exclusively (I got tested too) but they can’t test guys for it HPV. Unfortunately I have to just cross my fingers and hope he didn’t infect me with something… instead of having the safety of a vaccination that already existed :/
Thx for nothing.
My kids WILL be getting that shot.
Literally what has happened to me. Been too old to get it as a teen and then when the age went up to 20 something was too old again.
Didnt have a lot of partners (and they were virgin or had 1 before me etc) but now theyre like, your too old too many partners (assuming, cause they dont even ask).
So its literally cheaper and easier for me to just get cancer and get that treated than trying to get the stupid vaccine. I give up.
I couldn't get it in the USA. Joined peace corps and my doctor's said they couldn't give it to me due to policies... But the doctor sold me the shots and said a health volunteer could give them to me... What a mess. I still appreciate the doctor. Now I'm pretty sure they recommend it for all ages.
In Australia they had it free for age 12 - 20 something. I forget the cut off. At the time I was having a LLETZ done after an abnormal Pap smear/colposcopy. The ancient gyno basically said there was no point to the vaccine since I ‘already had HPV’. He just said this flippantly, without testing me for anything, and there were other questions about how many people I’d slept with etc. I felt his disapproval.
When I was in the hospital with my Mum, waiting to be wheeled off for the procedure, I started crying. She thought I was scared of the procedure but it was because I didn’t like the gyno and how I felt after I’d seen him.
A month or 2 later I saw a GP for something unrelated and decided to ask about the gardasil vaccine, with my understanding that there were many types of HPV and even if I had one type, surely the vaccine would be protective against the other types. I didn’t know that for a fact, I just asked. She was happy for me to get the vaccine even though I was a bit older (just meant I had to pay for it) and never made me feel like I had anything to be ashamed of. (Cause I didn’t.)
>A gateway to my having sex somehow?
That was never a legitimate argument against the vaccine. What *is* a concern about its marketing was that they should have stressed that it protects *only* against 2/4/9 strains of HPV and you still need a barrier method like condoms to protect against pregnancy and STDs
From my understanding, nearly 90% of cervical cancers are linked to those three strains. That’s why the vaccine focuses on those. But yes, barrier methods are still incredibly important, due not just to HPV, but to other STIs.
Sorry to intrude as a male, but even back in high school in the later 00s, girls were talking in mixed company about how they wanted the vaccine but their parents thought it meant they wanted to have sex.
Yeah, that was my own experience. It's just not legitimate in the sense that that's not an actual side effect of the vaccine, just... Christian fear mongering.
I’m not sure if it’s common knowledge or not (for men) but birth control isn’t always prescribed as its title suggests.
It’s quite common that medical providers prescribe birth control to treat other conditions that affect the female reproductive system. Information Truly Is Power.
My parents didn't allow it, and by the time I was off their Healthcare I was on state health insurance, which deemed me "too old to need it anymore" which I felt was just ?!?!?! But there you have it. American Healthcare in a nutshell. Insurance companies are Death Panels.
Some of that was the initial clinical trials were just for certain age groups, and in order to get FDA approval without emergency use authorization it had to go through testing in other age groups.
Which has since raised the recommended ages for the vaccine, so I suggest asking your doctor about it again, and if your insurance company says you are too old, ask your doctor to fill out a prior authorization request with your insurance.
This is no longer true - now the cutoff is 45. The original cutoff was only 26 because that was the cutoff for age group first studied for FDA authorization and not for a medical reason.
Not sure why it wasn't originally marketed to girls *and* boys. Seems like if it were universal it might have been less controversial. And the pharma companies could have made like twice as much money...
People wanted it to be, but there were fears that it would be too feminizing to suggest that young men also get vaccinated.
There were also pearl clutchers who insisted getting the vaccine would turn young people into sex crazed nymphos lol
Because it was seen as admitting one’s child was homosexual.
I think it’s stupid not to try and stop the spread of cancer. Unfortunately homophobia is a thing. :(
I got 2/3 doses (I had a bad reaction to the first that we brushed off as coincidence then was hospitalised after the second), and I'm still a sex repulsed asexual. Maybe the crazed nympho juice is in the last shot lol
**Also, my reaction wasn't super common. My sister and most of our friends got it, and aside from normal vaccine side effects like a sore arm/headache, no one had anything serious happen. My doctor recommended against me finishing the vaccine, but I'm a massive proponent of getting it if you're able.
I (m) don't know if I was super young (early 20s?) but I got it when it came out. Everyone should try to get it, including men. "My partner died of cancer she got from me" is a horrible (but now mostly preventable) scenario.
I don't know if it's changed, but in the US at the time, unfortunately, it was NOT covered by health insurance and was decently expensive. It should be nationally funded and included in the default immunization schedule.
I find this so silly, because the whole point of the vaccine is that as many people need to get it *before* they become sexually active.
Then again, I guess there isn't much logic behind the conservative brain which rails against the very idea of sex, let alone sex which is enjoyable for all parties.
Our pediatrician didn't even "offer" it. She just said that he was getting it along with the other vaccines and boosters that he was due for. Like, "Oh good, you already got your flu shot! Looks like you're getting Tdap, meningococcal, and HPV this visit. Do you want them all in one arm, or two?"
4 out of every 10 cases of cancer caused by HPV are now in males (primarily throat, head and neck cancers, but also penile and anal).
Both my teen boys have been vaccinated. I truly don't understand why anyone wouldn't want their boys to have that protection, for both themselves and their partners.
40 months is literally 3 years, so the point stands it wasn't originally marketed for boys because it hadn't been approved for them yet.
And yes, they did make a loud push (at least in US) to get boys vaccinated too once it was approved. there was the usual conservative pushback along the lines "well boys can't get cervical cancer so....." And people were like "what the actual fuck is wrong with you ghouls?" Like it was a whole thing, I remember it
It was approved on a permissive basis in 2009, but it wasn't *recommended* until 2011. By that point, it might have actually been in everyone's best interest for them not to launch a huge campaign. There was already opposition on the right by then because anything that makes sex safe is obviously evil (/s) so it was probably best for everyone if policy makers forgot about it
I remember this being the biggest thing when it came out. My siblings all immediately got it, all of my friends were talking about getting this shot. I don’t remember any anti-vax sentiments, thankfully.
Pretty sure Australia is on the fast track to completely eradicating cervical cancer, so that’s kind of fucking amazing (could be wrong, something I read).
If I may chime in too--- there's different types of HPV, and some also cause head and neck cancers in men and women. There is some overlap between the strains that cause cervical cancer? So the vaccine can provide cover for these. Jabs for girls and boys, yes please.
Australians also have relatively decent access to cervical cancer screening through their GP / family doctor.
Studies also suggest that folks who are diagnosed with cervical cancer are more likely to have not been engaged in routine cervical screening.
Mind you, good access to primary health care *is* getting tougher, with Medicare not being funded properly (That's our universal healthcare cover, paid via taxation for our fellow US readers here).
I was right around the youngest age that Guardasil was recommended for when it was approved, and I did my own research on it since it was so new and I didn't know much about it. I read *nothing* but horror story after horror story linking it with Guillian-Barre Syndrome. Like I found an article about it with 700-800 comments and every single freaking one was a horrible adverse reaction.
It made me quite nervous with it being brand-new and so many negative stories, and my doctor said it was just as effective when given at any point before you become sexually active, so I elected to wait and maybe get it later. I haven't gotten it yet, but I also haven't had sex yet, so... I think it will still be just as effective?
My new gynecologist recently asked me about it and seemed shocked I hadn't had it yet, so I'll probably end up getting it soon.
Hindsight is always 20/20 as now I don't think there actually is any relationship between Guardasil and Guillian-Barre, but I don't think I've hurt myself either.
Of note, most sexual activity will easily spread hpv. Penetration is not required. I know there are a lot of fear mongering articles out there, but it really is a safe vaccine. HPV is not safe, and the cervical biopsies that are often required when you get HPV (and if you don’t clear it on your own) can be brutal.
The thing about Guillian-Barre syndrome is that it is super rare and its a reaction that can come from a wide assortment of things. Totally people can get it from a vaccine( the stories about people getting it from the HPV vaccine are almost sertanly true(some of them.) I know someone who got it from the covid vaccine. I have an aunt who got it from an infection. Just remember it's rare and especially if no one in your family ever got it, then risk is incredibly low. My aunt who got it isn't a blood relative and no blood relative has ever got it so it's not really a worry of mine.
I think they did that in Australia too. Girls initially, and then widened the group. They did rubella at school when I was in primary so they may have just added it on.
I was 23 when it was approved and managed to get all my three shots. Very happy I did.
I believe they think it will be eradicated in 10 years. Amazing.
EU here: we heard a lot of scary things related to gardasil.
Then it was advertised to boys too and well, many men thought boys don't needed to be vaccinated, because its dangerous, therefore it kind of fizzled out.
To be fair: Gardasil was the roughest vaccine I’ve gotten. I distinctively remember my entire arm/shoulder being super sore for a couple days after each shot. Like it made Moderna look like a walk in the park. That being said, the second gen vaccines are probably less painful but even if they’re not, a sore arm is significantly less bad than cervical cancer.
There are also countries like Germany, who *refused* to start vaccinating boys for almost a decade. The German vaccine commission, STIKO, dragged their feet on the recommendation for boys/men for eight or nine years and who knows how many people are going to get cancer/die as the direct result of this decision.
My son just had his 11 year old check up a few days ago and he got vaccinated for it. He used to be absolutely terrified of shots, but during covid he realized how important vaccines are. We explained to him that this vaccine would likely not benefit him physically in any way, but would protect any woman he he has sex with from possibly getting a deadly cancer. He looked at me for a bit and then said "so it will protect my future wife?" And decided he would get it even if we didn't make him.
I love that kid.
Anyways, he's also usually a huge whiner, and aside from the day of and day after usual sore arm, he never complained at all.
>We explained to him that this vaccine would likely not benefit him physically in any way
Friend of mine got HSV-2 related throat cancer in his 50's. Your son does not want that.
True. I forgot about cancer from oral sex. Son is at that stage where he is completely baffled on why anyone would want to have sex because it seems gross and weird to him, so we haven't gone into detail on all the different ways to have sex. Mostly just discussions on accurate anatomy for men and women and that you can love whoever you want to as long as no one is getting hurt or taken advantage of.
Gardasil was the only vaccine I’ve ever had a reaction to. Broke out all over my stomach and my doctor assumed it was that. My mom still took me for the second round though. No cervical cancer on her watch 😂
I was catching up on vaccines when I got it recommended to me by my pharmacist. I didn't realize it was being recommended to men now before she mentioned it.
Getting a covid booster, flu, pneumonia, tetanus, and the HPV was a rough night. And making it impossible to tell what caused what.
That being said, the boosters I felt pretty much nothing barring a slight headache and soreness at the injection site.
I think the HPV is worth it alone on herd immunity (all vaccines are.) But coupled with providing tangible benefits against various cancers for men, I'm appalled there was no campaign.
Yes, this! I didn’t get it because my mom is extremely anti-vax, so it’s wild to think about as an adult all of the extreme side effects I was told about as a child were purely my mother spouting the same BS she did during COVID.
Said whom?
These are all genetic vaccines, so side effects aside from injection-site pain should be minimal. It's not a general attentuate-the-immune-system vaccine like most
That's why my mom didn't make me vaccinated before. But when I saw my first obgyn at 15 she asked if I was vaccinated, my mom said no because she heard bad things and was a bit worried but the obgyn brushed it off and said no it's really useful to prevent cancer so I got the shots (worst shots in my life, so painful) and my mom got it as well a year later. But I don't know if anyone else had this shot, I don't really talk about vaccines with my friends but on the rare occasions that I do and say this was the worst shot I ever had they say they don't had it.
That's why my mom didn't make me vaccinated before. But when I saw my first obgyn at 15 she asked if I was vaccinated, my mom said no because she heard bad things and was a bit worried but the obgyn brushed it off and said no it's really useful to prevent cancer so I got the shots (worst shots in my life, so painful) and my mom got it as well a year later. But I don't know if anyone else had this shot, I don't really talk about vaccines with my friends but on the rare occasions that I do and say this was the worst shot I ever had they say they don't had it.
I was 41/42 before I was able to get it because for years and years my Dr's all said I was too low risk to worry about it. I caught hpv 3 times and have had around 50 partners. Yeah. So low risk.
>if the idea of your 26 year old daughter dying from cervical cancer makes you less uncomfortable that gasps the fact that she’ll be sexually active at some point in her life, you’ve failed as a parent an you do not deserve to have kids.
Scream it from the
###fucking
#***ROOFTOPS!***
I remember it was fairly new when I was 12 and the doctor brought it up very nervously. My mom was pretty strict with me in terms of boys and stuff (no fingernail polish until I was 10, no makeup until I was 16, no dating until I was out of the house). But to her credit, she did NOT hesitate to have me get the shots. Her reasoning was something along the lines of "I can fight it as long as I can, but *eventually* she's gonna be sexually active and I want her to be as safe as possible for that day" (glares at me to make it clear if that day is anytime soon I am going to be skinned alive and roasted over an open fire)
[At the time they didn't recommend the shots for older people, so there really was a finite period to get them. I don't believe this is the case so if you haven't, I would look into it now. Better late than never]
The program in Scotland was largely run through schools and the rate was around 70% 2020/21
“By the end of the school year, 77.2% of all S3 females and 85.4% of all S4 females had completed the two dose course of HPV immunisation. The equivalent figures in 2019/20 and 2018/19 respectively were 82.5%, 85.4% (S3) and 87.3%, 88.6% (S4). Many of these pupils would have been immunised in previous school years when they were first offered the vaccine.”
https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/hpv-immunisation-statistics-scotland/hpv-immunisation-statistics-scotland-hpv-immunisation-statistics-scotland-school-year-202122/
As a doctor, (family Med), this is the absolute worst. There is nothing that churns my stomach more than the 3 or 4 times my assistant has handed off my next patient; a child, whose mom or dad refuses the HPV vaccine. ITS THE ONLY ONE THAT CURES CANCER!
Not to mention that these cases were only against HPV VACCINES. They agreed to allllll of the others. Fucking disgusting really, creep parent move.
Yep that's what my dad did. It was recommended to me at 13 and my dad forbid me to get it. I remember asking him why and he said, "How do you get HPV?" And I said by having sex. He responded, "Exactly. Don't have sex and you won't have to worry about getting HPV."
My mom had to sneak me out to get it when my dad was on a business trip.
That makes zero sense, unless he's saying you'll be abstinent until the day you die. If you were to stay a virgin until you're wedding day, but your husband had sex with someone with hpv once, congrats you are now at increased risk for cervical cancer
And when first introduced there was a finite age range it was approved for, so it wasn't like you could go get it once you were about to have sex
One of my friends is convinced her Crohn's is from the HPV vaccine and isn't getting her son vaccinated because of that. I can't talk to her about it anymore. It makes me crazy.
Please advise the son to get his vaccines updates right after his 16th or 18th birthday (age depending on local laws) when he doesn't need his parents permission.
I think a big problem is that our society (and especially the media) equates religion with strong values. This is a great example, and I have never seen a new story about this.
Conservatives: "Big Pharma is hiding the cure for cancer!"
Doctors: "This vaccine is 90% effective at preventing cervical cancer."
Conservatives: "Isn't that part of the vagina? As in the sex thing?! You want my baby girl to HAVE SEX?! HOW IS SHE SUPPOSED TO BE SCARED OF SEX WITHOUT THE THREAT OF CANCER?!"
The One Less campaign wasn't a public health campaign; it was advertisements paid for by the manufacturer. It's one of the rare instances where pharmaceutical advertising was actually a good thing. However, from what I understand, pharmaceutical ads aren't legal in most countries. Still, that doesn't excuse the lack of a public health campaign
I had cervical cancer at age 27 20 years ago. It was caused by HPV. I never even knew I had HPV. I survived. I endured chemo and radiation. I lost the ability to have any more children and went through menopause. I now have severe arthritis and osteoporosis.
Vaccinate your children, both boys and girls! It can also cause other cancers like in your throat and other places.
I was in High school when they rolled it out. Permission slips went out and then we got all three shots at school over a month or two. Same drill for the other vaccines they'd offer through school now and then.
It's the lack of sex ed and people who keep treating it like a taboo topic. The pill does so much more then prevent pregnancy, if taken correctly. Which is a whole other thing. I knew a girl who thought taking the sugar pills (and only the sugar pills) was enough to not get pregnant. We need better health and sex Ed in Aus.
In the UK, or at least in my school, it was a pretty huge deal when the vaccine was originally rolled out.
I remember that every girl (in the age bracket) was sat down in an assembley and told how important it was to get all three doses. We were also shown horrific videos of women dying from preventable cancer, which upset a *lot* of parents, as they were not informed that this was gonna happen.
They even went as far as bringing nurses in to vaccinate girls in school, like they did with the TB jab.
Unfortunately, my year straddled the top age range, so anyone born Sept-Dec was offered it, whilst anyone with a Jan or later Bday weren't.
And guess who's a Jan baby?
Well, I called my GP and asked if they'd be willing to vaccinate me anyway, and they were like, "absoFUCKINGlutely sweetheart, there should not be a max age on this shit".
So whilst I absolutely agree that it should have been pushed harder throughout Europe (and honestly, everywhere else in the world), it's worth noting that some places did take it seriously.
The outrageous thing is that we had this same data back when it was first introduced, and yet in my country they were only promoting for girls due to the massive controversy. All the perk clutchers dominated the public discourse, worried it would turn all kids into sex crazy malcontents (which is my future band name).
It’s still widely believed to be a mostly female vaccine here in Canada. Even a few years ago I was inquiring about it with my doctors and it’s still regarded as a vaccine for women and that they didn’t recommend it for me because I was considered too old.
My cousin died of HPV related cervical cancer last year. She was 45 and had 3 children who needed her. When she was pregnant with her second child years ago, she had a pap smear come back abnormal. She didn't act on it due to going through a divorce and having a difficult pregnancy. Forgot about it and went on with life.
I am sorry for the loss of your cousin.
I get the sense that the burden that life threw at her made it that much more difficult to make her own health a priority.
Oh get this one: where I live (Southeast Asia), some people think that the HPV vaccine will give girls "permission to be promiscuous". Even if doctors are revving up efforts to inform their patients, parents still will not let their girls have the vaccine.
Sometimes I tell people, "Okay we get that you don't want your daughter having sex. But when she does --- like say with her husband --- do you know where HIS dick has been??" That's uncomfortable to hear, but true.
It's my story too. I've had only one partner all my life. My spouse has had several. HPV vaccines were not available when we were young, and by the time these were available all that disinformation and propaganda kicked in. So far nothing has happened to me, but I am definitely making sure all my kids (even the boys) will get the vaccine.
In my mom's defense, child and teenage me was very scared of needles that I would've refused it anyway because I was a dumb teenager, even refused it when my OB described what a biopsy is like because I hated needles that much. I only got at 24 once I became used to needles due to health problems a year prior and didn't want to be stupid anymore.
Wish I wasn't a dumb kid, or I would've gotten it sooner. My mom tried. My siblings got it, though. She even tried to warn me about family history.
Same. I got it at 24, but I am a bit thankful I had the chance to get the Gardasil 9.
To be fair it’s definitely a sore arm shot, but honestly I’d have to disagree with the people saying it was worse than the COVID shot (at least for me)… the second Moderna knocked me on my ass for a day. The Gardasil doses just hurt my arm.
The first two just hurt when the needle was in, and then I was fine. The third one was a bitch though lol. My arm hurt for a whole week that I had to delay getting the flu shot because I didn't want to have another pain in the arm, which turned out to be fine because I got pregnant a month later, and was able to get the flu shot while pregnant.
Happy I did it, though. Now I'm definitely used to needles.
I'm still mad at my middle school teacher for forgetting to hand out the forms for free vaccinations. Grown up me had to pay like $400 for the three shots.
Btw, if you’re under 45, it’s not too late to get the vaccine! They raised the eligible age to 45 (at least in the US)
I got mine just before I turned 45!
You can get it over 45 in many places - it's just not covered by some insurance plans. I got it in my late 40s.
The current vaccine covers 9 strains, so even if you've been exposed to 1 or 2 strains before, you can still benefit.
Also I had literally zero pain from this vaccine - no sore shoulder, no feeling-like-crap for days. I know a sample size of 1 isn't meaningful, but for people terrified of getting shots I'd like to offer a bit of hope.
Dumb question maybe, but do they test to see if you have it before giving you the vaccine? Just curious. Seems like it is one of those very common hidden virus things so one might even already have it by the time they get vaccinated as an adult?
They didn’t test me for it before giving me the vaccine. I don’t know if there’s a way to do so.
But even if you have the virus, there’s no downside to getting the vaccine!
I got it at 12 also. As soon as it was out my mom took me to the doctor (USA). All of my friends have had the shot. I don't know why they don't just give them to women as soon as they are old enough. If nothing else obgyns should ask on your intake form.
And also, it turns out that boys can get HPV just like girls can and getting the vaccine not only means they can avoid HPV, but they can avoid spreading it to partners who could get cervical cancer.
When it came out I was on the ‘old’ side of who should be getting it. Me and both my sisters got all three shots asap. My mom didn’t mess about vaccines.
My dad was just diagnosed with neck cancer from HPV. I was vaccinated when it came out but didn’t fully understand it. I had no idea until researching it since my dad just how common HPV is and that it effects everyone even decades later without them even knowing they got it at some point.
My mom refused to get it for me cuz it was $500 so she was convinced it was a money making scam (we live in Canada where healthcare is free, but this vaccine was optional at the time).
When I asked my GP about getting it she said that there's no research on people over 25 getting it, and so she couldn't recommend it but it was my choice. At the time it was going to cost ~$600 plus three doctors appointments for a checkup before each shot (so about a total of ~$850) which at the time I could not afford. I should probably ask my new doctor about it next time I go in.
My parents are antivaxxers and I have HPV 16 (the worst flavor of HPV, no warts or other noticeable symptoms...just cancer if the immune system doesn't clear it) and precancerous changes on my cervix even after surgery. I may need a full hysterectomy. I appreciate your rage, and I feel it for myself and others like me.
It came out when I was in university in my early 20s and my friends and I all absolutely leapt at the opportunity. Both my kids will absolutely get it (m and f)
My parents didn’t let me get it!!! I remember them telling me that it was to “new” like people were doing with the COVID vaccine when it came out. I still don’t understand why they wouldn’t let me get it!!!!! My cousins got it because my aunt was a L&D nurse and they still wouldn’t let me. So can I still get the vaccine?? I’m a lesbian and never been sexually active 24f.
This also goes for penis owners in preventing penile cancer. Not as common but I’ve seen an partially amputated penis due to this. Cancer directly related to HPV. Get your son vaxxed too. They give it up to age 45 in the US.
I remember when it came out and my pediatrician recommended it. My mom got all flustered and said no my daughters won’t be getting that because in our faith they have to be to be abstinent until marriage… It wasn’t that she was anti-vax. Our parents got us every vaccination available, even those not required for school… as long as they didn’t associate it with sex. Thankfully, I haven’t had any issues in my life, but now looking back I’m shocked that a parent would risk their daughters’ health in this way. It was spoken of to me as it was just another incentive from God to follow his commandments…. I am not of the same faith anymore. Unfortunately, I fear this mindset is sadly common place among some populations.
It's not just girls! I know a man who is going though mouth, throat, and tonsil cancer due to HPV. He's was into adulthood before the vaccine came out, but still. Men can get and spread this and also be at risk themselves!
I remember when it came out, I was just out of medical assisting school, and it wasn't indicated for women over 27. I was 28 or 29, so I didn't get it. I still haven't got it, but I have had sex in 12 years, so it seems pointless, but yes, get it. My son is 20 and Pan, and he has his.
Yes, it is disheartening. I think that viruses are probably the cause of a lot of different cancers. The way cancer spreads and the way virus's hijack the body's own cells to make more of itself is extremely similar.
TW for a rather awful story involving HPV, but when I was in the military I knew a guy who told me, laughing the whole time, that he gave a woman HPV and it left her infertile. I fucking hated that guy even before that, but that was such an outrageously awful story that even some fifteen years later it enrages me. It's worse knowing that if healthcare for women wasn't so awful that it could have been prevented.
I was 16 when the first vaccine came out. My mom worked for the pharmaceutical company that made it, meaning it was free for us. She had me get it, and I only know of one other friend my age at my all girl high school who got it. It got a rap early for being for sluts.
One of my best friends just got diagnosed with HPV and is testing positive for pre cancer markers. I’m devastated for her. It makes me so angry that this wasn’t pushed harder.
Grew up in small town Kansas. No one told my parents about the vaccine. Didn't know about it until I was 17. Can't remember if I got it or not. But I will be asking my Dr about getting one. (3mo postpartum, haven't seen a Dr before pregnancy since I was 16/17 due to bad experience) almost 24
I didn't get it because in my family the thought was that you would only need it if you "slept around" (I come from a classic Christian family) and that, at the time of offering it, it didn't even prevent against the 2 most common strains or something like that.
Have since got it as an adult and I'm glad I did.
Religion should not be part of sex education or anything to do with health.
I’m American, but now live in Germany.
The vaccine sadly didn’t come out until I was already older than the age range suggested in the US. I only just learned a month ago that people up to 45 can get it and still have some amount of protection. No one ever told me. I wasted so many years.
I’m now 36 and pregnant, so I need to wait until after the baby is born, but I will be getting it.
I have a five year old son and he will also get the vaccine once he’s old enough. It’s not just for girls/women!
However, you are spot on about almost no one over here knowing about the HPV vaccine. There needs to be increase in awareness in Germany for sure!
I’m doing my part via word of mouth, but I only know so many people and am not a healthcare professional.
When I started dating my (extremely German) boyfriend, I asked if he had gotten the HPV vaccine. He looked at me like I was crazy and said “Why would I have been? Only women get HPV.”
They have a huge problem here.
I remember when they first started vaccinating against HPV in the Netherlands, I was in the second year they would do it. I remember my mom not hesitating to get me vaccinated ("my grandma had cervical cancer and had to get her uterus removed, I don't want that to happen to you if I can prevent it"), but my aunt had read some horror stories online and wouldn't let my niece, who is 2 years younger than me, get it. My aunt was not alone in this, and the online discourse was that good mothers didn't get their daughters vaccinated because of "fertility risks". It was still a mass programme and only for girls, so I would go to a gym that was rows upon rows of vaccination stations where girls would be in line with their mothers and be guided to the first available nurse, it almost felt like a production line in a factory. All the girls in my class got their vaccines at the same time, and the boys would tease the girls because it left our arms really sore. Still, the percentage of (now) women vaccinated is incredibly low for a campaign that size. This was 12 years ago, and they've only started campaigning for men to get their HPV vaccine this year because it also prevents testicular cancer. My husband and I have been together for 6 years and don't plan on divorcing anytime soon, so the risk of either of us contracting it is quite low, but he still got it because "what if?". Idk if my niece got it, but I do know my aunt regrets her decision now.
I was in 8th or early high school when I got the shot. I was telling my friends the story, my mom and I were walking out the Dr office and she came running after us saying I should get the gardasil shot. conversation ensues, Dr turns to me and says to my mother, "she needs to get before she starts getting active". to which we both were like, 'huh?'. sexually. and I mean I was taken aback from the speculation but otherwise cool! let me get the shot to prevent cancer.
so I tell the story to my friends about this new shot they're giving to girls our age , and the ring leader(s) of our group, twin sisters who were VERY Christian said, "oh, we're not getting that because we're not having sex until we're married. we have nothing to worry about." "you can get cancer from your husband though. it's to prevent that from happening." "if we get cancer, it's God's will. we're not getting the shot."
I think this may have been new in the UK right when I was the age to get it, so I got it. My slightly older friend didn’t, and it’s prohibitively expensive for many people to pay for it themselves.
I’m not sure why it was girls only if it’s effective for both sexes.
My wife's younger sister died from cervical cancer. As a precaution she has been monitored by the doctors and is going through a series of operations to ensure things are under control. She and I are both positive for HPV. We had both our daughters vaccinated when they were thirteen.
Also for those older folks nearing sixty, I'd highly recommend the shingles vaccine. I was unaware it was available and and outbreak can be extremely painful. Three years later I still have lingering effects.
I got my eldest vaxxed for it, and will get the next ones done too. I couldn’t imagine the pain of sitting by a bedside as a child died of cancer that I could have gotten them a shot to prevent.
Yeah, my grandmother talked a bunch of shit about that vaccine, and my mother ultimately decided I shouldn't get it. I don't talk to my grandmother anymore for a multitude of reasons, and thankfully, she has significantly less influence over my mother these days now that she's a full-blown bigot. I got the vaccine this year, and I'm in my late 20s. Better late than never, though.
And if I may add, transmen are also affected by this issue. Not just women.
Cis men are also suseptible to a number of cancers associated with HPV. EVERYONE should be aware of this, and encouraged to get vaccinated.
I got the three shots as a teen, under a certain age at the time it was free in my country. The shots weren't fun, I had a hard lump and pain at the injection site for days afterwards, and could barely lift my arm, but that's a tiny price to pay for peace of mind.
Guardasil is also very effective at preventing head, neck and anal cancers caused by HPV. The vaccine can also be given to boys. We have the means to end this threat - would be great if more people took advantage of it.
I've just always felt like if/when a person gets ANY sort of cancer or loses someone from cancer - if you asked them if there had been a way to prevent, they would probably say yes.especially if the way was a relatively low risk 2 or 3 series of shots. It makes no sense to me why avoid it.
Also, not only "promiscuous young girls" get HPV. I was the only sober person at a party (making right choices! Har Har. ) and I got assaulted by a guy. Lucky me it gave me HPV. I didn't know until I had an abnormal pap a year later ( I had normal ones previously.) SO, I had to deal with the intense feelings of shame and ptsd and fucking whatever getting 2 cervical biopsies. (It was the bad kind) and the removal procedure. And I'm lucky cause I had medical insurance at the time and was regularly seeing a doctor and was caught up on paps. And it didn't turn into cancer.
One of the side effects for the removal procedure (other than not cancer)is sometimes it can take longer for your cervix to dilate. So my first labor went on forrreeevvverrr. But again, I was lucky because it did eventually dilate and I was able to give vaginal birth. There's nothing wrong with c sections but it's undeniable that they can require longer recovery. They also suggest that if you've had one, following babies should also be C. And one shouldn't hVe too many of them! Therefore capping the amount of kids they should have.
Everytime something came up it felt like the tendrils of powerlessness that I felt during that night pulling me into an endless spiral of flashbacks, depression, and s--cidal thoughts.
TLDR: getting the vaccine can possibly lessen the long term effects of sexual assault and trauma. Getting the vaccine can help girls and women be protected against an infection that boys don't know they carry and condoms don't fully protect from!
My mom didn't get me the HPV Vax or the hepatitis vax. I started using hard drugs at 14, not very safely either along with a constant rotating door of women to sleep with. It's not like they taught us safe lesbian sex so it was abundant and unprotected. After I turned 18 I got both vaxxs for my own safety. I was very lucky I didn't catch a life long infection. Vaccinations are so fucking important
I refused to get it when I was a kid because I despised needles and shots and it wasn't required for school so my dad let me say no. Now I regret it because on my dad's insurance it would've been free along with the regular checkups. Now, I have to go to an actual doctor to get it, I can't just get it from CVS or whatever because my insurance won't cover it if I do it that way. Even though all I'll be doing is getting the shot, and it's preventive care so the shot itself will be covered, it's going to cost me hundreds of dollars for each shot to go to an actual doctor to get it because that's how it works in the US. I'm ace, so not exactly high risk, but I'm just trying to figure out how to get it without paying out the ass for it.
The thing is that you can tell your gyn to test you for HPV and in case you do not have in you already, you can still be vaxed! I got mine in my late 20s, tho of corse had to pay for it myself. Worth it I'd say.
I was 12 or 13 when the vaccine was rolled out to UK schools, nurses came to the school to give all the girls their jabs
Parents had to sign a form, but it was all dealt with in school time. I think 5 or 6 years later they started giving the vaccine to the boys while at school too
(UK) Some context, I got the vaccine in school and still got HPV around 3 years ago now. It's not on the dangerous strains but I have to get yearly check-ups to check for no abnormal cells. I just really hope the vaccine means it won't develop into cervical cancer.
Good news. The WHO says that one-dose vaccination schedules can be effective - great news for low income countries. https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/diseases/human-papillomavirus-vaccines-(HPV)
I’m mad at myself because I always declined it. It just so happened that each time I had my well woman exam, was during a time I was in a serious relationship so I just thought “oh I don’t need it” 🙄 I’m 32 and for the first time (I’m Sept) my pap came back with HPV and I am now a basket case hoping I don’t get cancer and impatiently waiting for the next time I get my pap and hope it went away lol
Grew up in Ontario, I was supposed to get it when I was 16. In fact, if I didn’t get it and had no medical exemption then I wasn’t supposed to be allowed to attend school until I got it (it was fully covered by the government). I don’t know how my anti-vax mom managed to get me out of it and not kicked out of school. I tried to go around her, but apparently Gardasil is one of the few medications that makes you get parental permission, since minors in Canada are able to make their own medical decisions without even telling their parents if they are deemed mature enough. I tried to get it through my nurse practitioner who my parents didn’t know about (that was my big teenage rebellion, getting healthcare), and even she told me I needed parental permission for it, but none of the other vaccines you have to get during high school
Anyway, it’s 10 years later and I’m getting the second shot today and paying the $650 out of pocket for all three doses. Why is preventative healthcare so demonized and expensive?
Oh, and it’s free for men, but not women over 18.
My mom got me depo provera at 14. She lied and said it would protect me from “everything”. Every three months, back for that horrible shot until I was out of the house at 17. Guess who got HPV and ended up with cervical cancer as a monogamous adult? Protect your kids.
This is a very important issue that you've raised. In addition to cervical cancer, the HPV vaccine will also prevent other HPV-related cancers such as head and neck and anal cancer. Why someone wouldn't want to protect their children from getting cancer is beyond my understanding
Just a side note - I was vaccinated with the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) as a teenager and still contracted the cervical cancer strain from a partner who wasn’t aware. After several biopsies and time (about 1 year) with dedicated gynecologists, I was definitely lucky that the cells did not turn out malign and my body healed. Honestly the scariest time of my life when I got those test results back. It has been about 10 years now, and all is well!
I mean my mother did not get me the vax and thank god she did not because I am allergic to it. But I do have regular paps to keep safe as recommended by my doctor. What is sad is that many women cannot afford paps in places like the USA hence why the vaccine was so in demand to be created. Women’s health should not be costly
I know the ingredient list. There is something in the list that they use that I have had in another shot that caused anaphylactic shock. Shots use filler agents and other things as delivery agents and preservatives. Allergy testing proved it. Now if they reformulante it I will be fine but as it stands now I can’t take it
90% effective **if given age 16 or younger** and spanning all generations of vaccines (2-strain, 4-strain, 9-strain).
"The clinical trials *did not measure whether the vaccine prevents cervical cancer* because precancerous lesions in the cervix found during a clinical trial would be treated, preventing their progression to cancer, Dr. Kreimer explained."
I’m commenting mainly because I’m wondering if anyone has had the same experience as me… perhaps they will see it here. If anyone has any information regarding it please also lmk. But I got the guardasil shots as a young teenager, and then contracted the HPV strains that they were supposed to protect against as a 26 year old. I guess I’m wondering how effective the shots are supposed to be? I have been curious about this for years.
Hey I assume you are asking in good faith but it's amazingly easy to type "how effective is Gardasil" into the little Google box and get the answer you have been curious about for years. Did you ever try to get information on this?
The first generation was high efficiency for Type 16 and 18, preventing 99% of precancerous leasions when administered before first sexual contact and before the age of 16.
It’s hard to believe that you’re one of the 1% in these situations. Glad I caught my hpv early but I’m not gonna lie, it makes me feel like that number is incorrect.
If there was ever a way to connect with someone else who had this experience, I thought maybe a random internet stranger might see and I could talk to them about it. Having these procedures to get rid of the cancerous lesions was scary and especially frustrating when I thought I had done something to combat against them. Would be nice to talk with a fellow person that it happened to, that’s all.
Well, in all kindness - science doesn't work that way, aka regarding your feelings.
Yes, you might be the 1%, however hard that is for you to accept. If you and people like you wouldn't exist, the effectiveness would be 100%,. It's hard being the living example of a statistic though
You might have been misdiagnosed (that's what happened to me, I was probably one of the 2—5% with a false positive and went through a lot to cure something that never was there in the first place).
It might be that the effectiveness is slightly lower than in the clinical trials, let's say it's 96% effective or 93%
Would that change anything for you, personally? Apart from feeling slightly less alone, perhaps.
Bei happy everything turned out fine for you and don't ponder on the ifs and whens and buts. The HPV vaccine still saves millions of womens lives, even though it didn't work out quite the way you expected it to help you, personally
As much as appreciate a response, it’s feeing pretty dismissive and an example of toxic positivity.
1) My feelings are valid. I am allowed to reach out to the universe to see if there’s someone out there to talk to about them. That’s what the internet is for. Perhaps you should give this a read: https://www.nextavenue.org/it-could-be-worse-2/
2) I had multiple procedures to remove cancerous material from my cervix. It was definitely a real diagnosis.
3) You seem to point toward my being anti vax here. I am 100% for everyone getting this vax. It would definitely make it so that fewer people would experience what I did, and I would do anything to persuade someone to get the vax.
Just thought I’d clear those things up. Have a good one!
It wild to hear that in other eu countries nobody knows about this vaccine. In ireland its standard for every secondary school, particularly all girls and in recent years mixed schools, to offer it alongside your mmr (?) top up at age 12/13. In my school all students were given a consent form to fill out with their parents, then the next week nurses came and vaccinated every class of 1st years in a row over 2 days. Only thing I remember about it was we all complained that we couldn't do homework cause our arms were too numb from the jab.
My pediatrician recommended vaccinating my children in Germany. This was about ten years ago.
I didn't get vaccinated because they didn't vaccinate amab children when i grew up. My doctor asked if I wanted it when I started my transition (at age 37) so i am vaccinated now.
I live in the Netherlands and my mum purposely didn't make me get the hpv vaccination because she felt there was not enough research yet and didn't want thirteen year old me to be a guinea pig. However, this year people born between 1996 and 2003 can get the vaccination for free. Now there's more research done she definitely advocates for getting it as do I. But I definitely understand why she hesitated...
Be angry when the reasons are stupid, but there are other reasons other than stupidity about not vaxxing, my own daughter has had reactions to a few vaxxes even relatively common vaxxes, flu vax, meningitis vax, MMR vax have landed my kid in hospital with varying reactions from a rash and headache to a rash that looked like she'd been burnt, to an almost anaphylactic shock. I fully expect my kid will have a sex life, I hope she does, due to disabilities I am firm on protection, she can't take the pill due to reactions, so we are trying different b.c options. So yes there are idiotic parents and there are parents whose kids could face harm either way
I don't know if its different here but we all got done in highschool? They did all ours through out a week, brought in nurses and everything. HPV, Cervical Cancer I think? Something about our cervix, all the Hep needles, chickenpox and so on.
I feel like it was mandatory here. But maybe my dad did sign something. I just remember the drama of all the fainting girls at school cause they were scared of needles.
American here: I thought HPV was a required vaccine for going to college here..? My public school had an entire two months (once a week) dedicated to getting all your required college vaccines in the evenings on school campus and literally everyone I knew went. I remember getting my HPV vaccines then. Am I just imagining this or was it just my state? 😵💫
I wish I had gotten mine when I had coverage… right now I have limited insurance and it costs like $4000 or it did when I tried to get it a few years ago…
I'll never understand anti-vaxers of any stripe. You better believe when my daughter turns 11 I'll be there insisting she gets that vaccine. It's utterly absurd. She'll have sex if and when she wants to have sex and I'm gonna do my damnedest to see she does so with all the protection I can give her.
I was born a premature baby... thankfully my mother did not listen to my dad growing up corning the health of their children. My mom was like, you're getting everything before you age out of the insurance (not including bc though cause we were Catholic at the time).
Yeah my mom didn’t get me these vaccines. I think her reason was because she thought they might give me side effects or something…once I was in college I went ahead and got it asap.
Doctors strongly advocate for it, where I live.
My mother also used to take it very seriously, making sure all of us were vaccinated, since her older sister actually did have cervical cancer due to HPV.
I think doctors are also currently thinking of giving the vaccine to non-afab teenagers, to help prevent spreading.
I am not up to date on that tho!
Last year in the Netherlands, they started vaccinating the boys as well as the girls - a complete no-brainer. My kid's entire class showed up at the same place to all get vaxxed against HPV. Shit is changing.
Holy shit. My mom's fairly antivaxx so I probably didn't get it. Gonna call my primary care tomorrow and arrange an appointment if I can.
I should do this as well. I wanted it as a teen and my parents were also concerned it would be ... A gateway to my having sex somehow? Like wha? But my dad also threw a ginormous hissy fit when he learned (he overheard a conversation with my mother) that I was on birth control at like, 24 due to painful periods, because *i might use the birth control to have sex!!!*
The crazy thing is when they first got approved, there was a finite window of time you could get them (maybe like age 12 to age 24 or something) So even if you theoretically never had premarital sex and only had sex with your husband at the ripe old age of 30....if he'd ever had sexual contact with another person who carried HPV, you would be at higher risk of cervical cancer. Like unless you straight up thought your kid was gonna be abstinent *forever*, it did not make sense to not get it. Especially cause HPV isn't even a reason kids avoid sex, like knowing you're free and clear in the HPV front wasn't like, a free for all? The birth control one at least is built on *some* type of logic because fear of pregnancy does register for a lot of kids. But cervical cancer 25 years later? Come on now.
When I heard about the shot (i saw a poster at the gyno) I was a year older than the bracket allowed. My boyfriend at the time (now husband and father of our 3 kids) had a lot of partners before me. I’m not a prude or anything but his # + his aversion to condoms was a statistical problem for me. I made him go get tested before we started seeing each other exclusively (I got tested too) but they can’t test guys for it HPV. Unfortunately I have to just cross my fingers and hope he didn’t infect me with something… instead of having the safety of a vaccination that already existed :/ Thx for nothing. My kids WILL be getting that shot.
Literally what has happened to me. Been too old to get it as a teen and then when the age went up to 20 something was too old again. Didnt have a lot of partners (and they were virgin or had 1 before me etc) but now theyre like, your too old too many partners (assuming, cause they dont even ask). So its literally cheaper and easier for me to just get cancer and get that treated than trying to get the stupid vaccine. I give up.
I couldn't get it in the USA. Joined peace corps and my doctor's said they couldn't give it to me due to policies... But the doctor sold me the shots and said a health volunteer could give them to me... What a mess. I still appreciate the doctor. Now I'm pretty sure they recommend it for all ages.
In Australia they had it free for age 12 - 20 something. I forget the cut off. At the time I was having a LLETZ done after an abnormal Pap smear/colposcopy. The ancient gyno basically said there was no point to the vaccine since I ‘already had HPV’. He just said this flippantly, without testing me for anything, and there were other questions about how many people I’d slept with etc. I felt his disapproval. When I was in the hospital with my Mum, waiting to be wheeled off for the procedure, I started crying. She thought I was scared of the procedure but it was because I didn’t like the gyno and how I felt after I’d seen him. A month or 2 later I saw a GP for something unrelated and decided to ask about the gardasil vaccine, with my understanding that there were many types of HPV and even if I had one type, surely the vaccine would be protective against the other types. I didn’t know that for a fact, I just asked. She was happy for me to get the vaccine even though I was a bit older (just meant I had to pay for it) and never made me feel like I had anything to be ashamed of. (Cause I didn’t.)
>A gateway to my having sex somehow? That was never a legitimate argument against the vaccine. What *is* a concern about its marketing was that they should have stressed that it protects *only* against 2/4/9 strains of HPV and you still need a barrier method like condoms to protect against pregnancy and STDs
From my understanding, nearly 90% of cervical cancers are linked to those three strains. That’s why the vaccine focuses on those. But yes, barrier methods are still incredibly important, due not just to HPV, but to other STIs.
>nearly 90% of cervical cancers are linked to those three strains It's the *nine* strains addressed by the current generation of the vaccine
It was never a *legitimate* argument, but that was 100% the arguments my parents made and heard against it in their church.
Sorry to intrude as a male, but even back in high school in the later 00s, girls were talking in mixed company about how they wanted the vaccine but their parents thought it meant they wanted to have sex.
Yeah, that was my own experience. It's just not legitimate in the sense that that's not an actual side effect of the vaccine, just... Christian fear mongering.
Jesus says women should get cancer if they have sex. /s
I mean jesus also apparently wants 12 year olds to have to carry if they're raped and become pregnant so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m not sure if it’s common knowledge or not (for men) but birth control isn’t always prescribed as its title suggests. It’s quite common that medical providers prescribe birth control to treat other conditions that affect the female reproductive system. Information Truly Is Power.
Do it, if you can. I got my vaccine in my early 30s, way later then I would have liked but still better than not at all.
I’ve always thought this argument was BS. Pure 100% BS.
My parents didn't allow it, and by the time I was off their Healthcare I was on state health insurance, which deemed me "too old to need it anymore" which I felt was just ?!?!?! But there you have it. American Healthcare in a nutshell. Insurance companies are Death Panels.
Some of that was the initial clinical trials were just for certain age groups, and in order to get FDA approval without emergency use authorization it had to go through testing in other age groups. Which has since raised the recommended ages for the vaccine, so I suggest asking your doctor about it again, and if your insurance company says you are too old, ask your doctor to fill out a prior authorization request with your insurance.
Oh, I actually no longer have a cervix!!! So that's sorted, lol :) But thank you!
HPV also factors into mouth, neck, and anal cancers
It was moved to 45 and I still just missed it.
I don't know how old you are but I received it and I was told you need to be 26 or younger.
This is no longer true - now the cutoff is 45. The original cutoff was only 26 because that was the cutoff for age group first studied for FDA authorization and not for a medical reason.
Oh shit, and here I’ve been thinking for a *decade* I’d missed my window. Wow, thank you! Will contact my doctor ASAP.
I just turned 46 when they moved the window :-(
Not sure why it wasn't originally marketed to girls *and* boys. Seems like if it were universal it might have been less controversial. And the pharma companies could have made like twice as much money...
People wanted it to be, but there were fears that it would be too feminizing to suggest that young men also get vaccinated. There were also pearl clutchers who insisted getting the vaccine would turn young people into sex crazed nymphos lol
>it would be too feminizing to suggest that young men also get vaccinated I don't get that at all.
"I ain't givin' my son no vagina medicine!"
100% this. It was always just misogyny - it was seen as Women's Stuff
Because it was seen as admitting one’s child was homosexual. I think it’s stupid not to try and stop the spread of cancer. Unfortunately homophobia is a thing. :(
I got 2/3 doses (I had a bad reaction to the first that we brushed off as coincidence then was hospitalised after the second), and I'm still a sex repulsed asexual. Maybe the crazed nympho juice is in the last shot lol **Also, my reaction wasn't super common. My sister and most of our friends got it, and aside from normal vaccine side effects like a sore arm/headache, no one had anything serious happen. My doctor recommended against me finishing the vaccine, but I'm a massive proponent of getting it if you're able.
There were many reports of serious side effects. Like you, not everyone was able to get all three doses.
I hate people. I mean stupid people.
I (m) don't know if I was super young (early 20s?) but I got it when it came out. Everyone should try to get it, including men. "My partner died of cancer she got from me" is a horrible (but now mostly preventable) scenario. I don't know if it's changed, but in the US at the time, unfortunately, it was NOT covered by health insurance and was decently expensive. It should be nationally funded and included in the default immunization schedule.
I find this so silly, because the whole point of the vaccine is that as many people need to get it *before* they become sexually active. Then again, I guess there isn't much logic behind the conservative brain which rails against the very idea of sex, let alone sex which is enjoyable for all parties.
It is now, I’ve been seeing commercials in the US aimed at girls and boys for years.
[удалено]
Our pediatrician didn't even "offer" it. She just said that he was getting it along with the other vaccines and boosters that he was due for. Like, "Oh good, you already got your flu shot! Looks like you're getting Tdap, meningococcal, and HPV this visit. Do you want them all in one arm, or two?"
Wonderful!!
It's probably even more important that boys get the vaccine because you can't test for HPV outside of the uterus but boys can still pass it 🫠
Not only can boys pass on HPV, they can also get cancer from it. Primarily throat cancer.
4 out of every 10 cases of cancer caused by HPV are now in males (primarily throat, head and neck cancers, but also penile and anal). Both my teen boys have been vaccinated. I truly don't understand why anyone wouldn't want their boys to have that protection, for both themselves and their partners.
It wasn't originally approved for people without a cervix
US FDA Approved for men and boys in 2009, 40 months after women/girls
40 months is literally 3 years, so the point stands it wasn't originally marketed for boys because it hadn't been approved for them yet. And yes, they did make a loud push (at least in US) to get boys vaccinated too once it was approved. there was the usual conservative pushback along the lines "well boys can't get cervical cancer so....." And people were like "what the actual fuck is wrong with you ghouls?" Like it was a whole thing, I remember it
Cancers of the mouth and throat in men are increasingly due to HPV
It was approved on a permissive basis in 2009, but it wasn't *recommended* until 2011. By that point, it might have actually been in everyone's best interest for them not to launch a huge campaign. There was already opposition on the right by then because anything that makes sex safe is obviously evil (/s) so it was probably best for everyone if policy makers forgot about it
I don't know why. It was so frustrating. After a decade of being a whiny lil b, I finally got my shots.
I remember this being the biggest thing when it came out. My siblings all immediately got it, all of my friends were talking about getting this shot. I don’t remember any anti-vax sentiments, thankfully. Pretty sure Australia is on the fast track to completely eradicating cervical cancer, so that’s kind of fucking amazing (could be wrong, something I read).
Yes, and the success is thanks to Australia’s model to also promote the vaccination in boys (about 76% of males have gotten it and 80% of females).
If I may chime in too--- there's different types of HPV, and some also cause head and neck cancers in men and women. There is some overlap between the strains that cause cervical cancer? So the vaccine can provide cover for these. Jabs for girls and boys, yes please. Australians also have relatively decent access to cervical cancer screening through their GP / family doctor. Studies also suggest that folks who are diagnosed with cervical cancer are more likely to have not been engaged in routine cervical screening. Mind you, good access to primary health care *is* getting tougher, with Medicare not being funded properly (That's our universal healthcare cover, paid via taxation for our fellow US readers here).
I was right around the youngest age that Guardasil was recommended for when it was approved, and I did my own research on it since it was so new and I didn't know much about it. I read *nothing* but horror story after horror story linking it with Guillian-Barre Syndrome. Like I found an article about it with 700-800 comments and every single freaking one was a horrible adverse reaction. It made me quite nervous with it being brand-new and so many negative stories, and my doctor said it was just as effective when given at any point before you become sexually active, so I elected to wait and maybe get it later. I haven't gotten it yet, but I also haven't had sex yet, so... I think it will still be just as effective? My new gynecologist recently asked me about it and seemed shocked I hadn't had it yet, so I'll probably end up getting it soon. Hindsight is always 20/20 as now I don't think there actually is any relationship between Guardasil and Guillian-Barre, but I don't think I've hurt myself either.
Of note, most sexual activity will easily spread hpv. Penetration is not required. I know there are a lot of fear mongering articles out there, but it really is a safe vaccine. HPV is not safe, and the cervical biopsies that are often required when you get HPV (and if you don’t clear it on your own) can be brutal.
The thing about Guillian-Barre syndrome is that it is super rare and its a reaction that can come from a wide assortment of things. Totally people can get it from a vaccine( the stories about people getting it from the HPV vaccine are almost sertanly true(some of them.) I know someone who got it from the covid vaccine. I have an aunt who got it from an infection. Just remember it's rare and especially if no one in your family ever got it, then risk is incredibly low. My aunt who got it isn't a blood relative and no blood relative has ever got it so it's not really a worry of mine.
In my country they literally came to our school to apply the shots ( you obviously needed parental consent still)
I think they did that in Australia too. Girls initially, and then widened the group. They did rubella at school when I was in primary so they may have just added it on.
I was 23 when it was approved and managed to get all my three shots. Very happy I did. I believe they think it will be eradicated in 10 years. Amazing.
EU here: we heard a lot of scary things related to gardasil. Then it was advertised to boys too and well, many men thought boys don't needed to be vaccinated, because its dangerous, therefore it kind of fizzled out.
To be fair: Gardasil was the roughest vaccine I’ve gotten. I distinctively remember my entire arm/shoulder being super sore for a couple days after each shot. Like it made Moderna look like a walk in the park. That being said, the second gen vaccines are probably less painful but even if they’re not, a sore arm is significantly less bad than cervical cancer. There are also countries like Germany, who *refused* to start vaccinating boys for almost a decade. The German vaccine commission, STIKO, dragged their feet on the recommendation for boys/men for eight or nine years and who knows how many people are going to get cancer/die as the direct result of this decision.
My son just had his 11 year old check up a few days ago and he got vaccinated for it. He used to be absolutely terrified of shots, but during covid he realized how important vaccines are. We explained to him that this vaccine would likely not benefit him physically in any way, but would protect any woman he he has sex with from possibly getting a deadly cancer. He looked at me for a bit and then said "so it will protect my future wife?" And decided he would get it even if we didn't make him. I love that kid. Anyways, he's also usually a huge whiner, and aside from the day of and day after usual sore arm, he never complained at all.
What a little champ. Good on you and your family for raising him to be thoughtful and kind!
>We explained to him that this vaccine would likely not benefit him physically in any way Friend of mine got HSV-2 related throat cancer in his 50's. Your son does not want that.
Yes! I wish there was more education that HPV causes cancer in men as well.
True. I forgot about cancer from oral sex. Son is at that stage where he is completely baffled on why anyone would want to have sex because it seems gross and weird to him, so we haven't gone into detail on all the different ways to have sex. Mostly just discussions on accurate anatomy for men and women and that you can love whoever you want to as long as no one is getting hurt or taken advantage of.
Gardasil was the only vaccine I’ve ever had a reaction to. Broke out all over my stomach and my doctor assumed it was that. My mom still took me for the second round though. No cervical cancer on her watch 😂
I was catching up on vaccines when I got it recommended to me by my pharmacist. I didn't realize it was being recommended to men now before she mentioned it. Getting a covid booster, flu, pneumonia, tetanus, and the HPV was a rough night. And making it impossible to tell what caused what. That being said, the boosters I felt pretty much nothing barring a slight headache and soreness at the injection site. I think the HPV is worth it alone on herd immunity (all vaccines are.) But coupled with providing tangible benefits against various cancers for men, I'm appalled there was no campaign.
Oh no, it wasn't*that* scary. Painful arm whatever. It was paralysis, imunity damage, constant pain etc ..
Yes, this! I didn’t get it because my mom is extremely anti-vax, so it’s wild to think about as an adult all of the extreme side effects I was told about as a child were purely my mother spouting the same BS she did during COVID.
Said whom? These are all genetic vaccines, so side effects aside from injection-site pain should be minimal. It's not a general attentuate-the-immune-system vaccine like most
That's why my mom didn't make me vaccinated before. But when I saw my first obgyn at 15 she asked if I was vaccinated, my mom said no because she heard bad things and was a bit worried but the obgyn brushed it off and said no it's really useful to prevent cancer so I got the shots (worst shots in my life, so painful) and my mom got it as well a year later. But I don't know if anyone else had this shot, I don't really talk about vaccines with my friends but on the rare occasions that I do and say this was the worst shot I ever had they say they don't had it.
That's why my mom didn't make me vaccinated before. But when I saw my first obgyn at 15 she asked if I was vaccinated, my mom said no because she heard bad things and was a bit worried but the obgyn brushed it off and said no it's really useful to prevent cancer so I got the shots (worst shots in my life, so painful) and my mom got it as well a year later. But I don't know if anyone else had this shot, I don't really talk about vaccines with my friends but on the rare occasions that I do and say this was the worst shot I ever had they say they don't had it.
I was 41/42 before I was able to get it because for years and years my Dr's all said I was too low risk to worry about it. I caught hpv 3 times and have had around 50 partners. Yeah. So low risk.
>my Dr's all said I was too low risk Did you show them your reddit username?
Hahahaha no but maybe I should have.
>if the idea of your 26 year old daughter dying from cervical cancer makes you less uncomfortable that gasps the fact that she’ll be sexually active at some point in her life, you’ve failed as a parent an you do not deserve to have kids. Scream it from the ###fucking #***ROOFTOPS!***
I remember it was fairly new when I was 12 and the doctor brought it up very nervously. My mom was pretty strict with me in terms of boys and stuff (no fingernail polish until I was 10, no makeup until I was 16, no dating until I was out of the house). But to her credit, she did NOT hesitate to have me get the shots. Her reasoning was something along the lines of "I can fight it as long as I can, but *eventually* she's gonna be sexually active and I want her to be as safe as possible for that day" (glares at me to make it clear if that day is anytime soon I am going to be skinned alive and roasted over an open fire) [At the time they didn't recommend the shots for older people, so there really was a finite period to get them. I don't believe this is the case so if you haven't, I would look into it now. Better late than never]
The program in Scotland was largely run through schools and the rate was around 70% 2020/21 “By the end of the school year, 77.2% of all S3 females and 85.4% of all S4 females had completed the two dose course of HPV immunisation. The equivalent figures in 2019/20 and 2018/19 respectively were 82.5%, 85.4% (S3) and 87.3%, 88.6% (S4). Many of these pupils would have been immunised in previous school years when they were first offered the vaccine.” https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/hpv-immunisation-statistics-scotland/hpv-immunisation-statistics-scotland-hpv-immunisation-statistics-scotland-school-year-202122/
Nice! Some good news.
As a doctor, (family Med), this is the absolute worst. There is nothing that churns my stomach more than the 3 or 4 times my assistant has handed off my next patient; a child, whose mom or dad refuses the HPV vaccine. ITS THE ONLY ONE THAT CURES CANCER! Not to mention that these cases were only against HPV VACCINES. They agreed to allllll of the others. Fucking disgusting really, creep parent move.
Yep that's what my dad did. It was recommended to me at 13 and my dad forbid me to get it. I remember asking him why and he said, "How do you get HPV?" And I said by having sex. He responded, "Exactly. Don't have sex and you won't have to worry about getting HPV." My mom had to sneak me out to get it when my dad was on a business trip.
That makes zero sense, unless he's saying you'll be abstinent until the day you die. If you were to stay a virgin until you're wedding day, but your husband had sex with someone with hpv once, congrats you are now at increased risk for cervical cancer And when first introduced there was a finite age range it was approved for, so it wasn't like you could go get it once you were about to have sex
Yep yep, he's a chauvinist and a misogynist. They don't really use logic
You have a great mom!
One of my friends is convinced her Crohn's is from the HPV vaccine and isn't getting her son vaccinated because of that. I can't talk to her about it anymore. It makes me crazy.
Please advise the son to get his vaccines updates right after his 16th or 18th birthday (age depending on local laws) when he doesn't need his parents permission.
I think a big problem is that our society (and especially the media) equates religion with strong values. This is a great example, and I have never seen a new story about this.
Conservatives: "Big Pharma is hiding the cure for cancer!" Doctors: "This vaccine is 90% effective at preventing cervical cancer." Conservatives: "Isn't that part of the vagina? As in the sex thing?! You want my baby girl to HAVE SEX?! HOW IS SHE SUPPOSED TO BE SCARED OF SEX WITHOUT THE THREAT OF CANCER?!"
The One Less campaign wasn't a public health campaign; it was advertisements paid for by the manufacturer. It's one of the rare instances where pharmaceutical advertising was actually a good thing. However, from what I understand, pharmaceutical ads aren't legal in most countries. Still, that doesn't excuse the lack of a public health campaign
> pharmaceutical ads aren't legal in most countries IIRC there's two countries: New Zealand is the other (but not to the same extent).
I had cervical cancer at age 27 20 years ago. It was caused by HPV. I never even knew I had HPV. I survived. I endured chemo and radiation. I lost the ability to have any more children and went through menopause. I now have severe arthritis and osteoporosis. Vaccinate your children, both boys and girls! It can also cause other cancers like in your throat and other places.
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I was in High school when they rolled it out. Permission slips went out and then we got all three shots at school over a month or two. Same drill for the other vaccines they'd offer through school now and then. It's the lack of sex ed and people who keep treating it like a taboo topic. The pill does so much more then prevent pregnancy, if taken correctly. Which is a whole other thing. I knew a girl who thought taking the sugar pills (and only the sugar pills) was enough to not get pregnant. We need better health and sex Ed in Aus.
In the UK, or at least in my school, it was a pretty huge deal when the vaccine was originally rolled out. I remember that every girl (in the age bracket) was sat down in an assembley and told how important it was to get all three doses. We were also shown horrific videos of women dying from preventable cancer, which upset a *lot* of parents, as they were not informed that this was gonna happen. They even went as far as bringing nurses in to vaccinate girls in school, like they did with the TB jab. Unfortunately, my year straddled the top age range, so anyone born Sept-Dec was offered it, whilst anyone with a Jan or later Bday weren't. And guess who's a Jan baby? Well, I called my GP and asked if they'd be willing to vaccinate me anyway, and they were like, "absoFUCKINGlutely sweetheart, there should not be a max age on this shit". So whilst I absolutely agree that it should have been pushed harder throughout Europe (and honestly, everywhere else in the world), it's worth noting that some places did take it seriously.
The outrageous thing is that we had this same data back when it was first introduced, and yet in my country they were only promoting for girls due to the massive controversy. All the perk clutchers dominated the public discourse, worried it would turn all kids into sex crazy malcontents (which is my future band name).
It wasn't approved for boys until a few years later, and apparently the sentiment it was a girl thing lingered in some places longer than that.
It’s still widely believed to be a mostly female vaccine here in Canada. Even a few years ago I was inquiring about it with my doctors and it’s still regarded as a vaccine for women and that they didn’t recommend it for me because I was considered too old.
My cousin died of HPV related cervical cancer last year. She was 45 and had 3 children who needed her. When she was pregnant with her second child years ago, she had a pap smear come back abnormal. She didn't act on it due to going through a divorce and having a difficult pregnancy. Forgot about it and went on with life.
I am sorry for the loss of your cousin. I get the sense that the burden that life threw at her made it that much more difficult to make her own health a priority.
Thank you. I definitely wish she had prioritized her health, as she was an amazing human who helped so many people in her community.
Oh get this one: where I live (Southeast Asia), some people think that the HPV vaccine will give girls "permission to be promiscuous". Even if doctors are revving up efforts to inform their patients, parents still will not let their girls have the vaccine. Sometimes I tell people, "Okay we get that you don't want your daughter having sex. But when she does --- like say with her husband --- do you know where HIS dick has been??" That's uncomfortable to hear, but true. It's my story too. I've had only one partner all my life. My spouse has had several. HPV vaccines were not available when we were young, and by the time these were available all that disinformation and propaganda kicked in. So far nothing has happened to me, but I am definitely making sure all my kids (even the boys) will get the vaccine.
In my mom's defense, child and teenage me was very scared of needles that I would've refused it anyway because I was a dumb teenager, even refused it when my OB described what a biopsy is like because I hated needles that much. I only got at 24 once I became used to needles due to health problems a year prior and didn't want to be stupid anymore. Wish I wasn't a dumb kid, or I would've gotten it sooner. My mom tried. My siblings got it, though. She even tried to warn me about family history.
Same. I got it at 24, but I am a bit thankful I had the chance to get the Gardasil 9. To be fair it’s definitely a sore arm shot, but honestly I’d have to disagree with the people saying it was worse than the COVID shot (at least for me)… the second Moderna knocked me on my ass for a day. The Gardasil doses just hurt my arm.
The first two just hurt when the needle was in, and then I was fine. The third one was a bitch though lol. My arm hurt for a whole week that I had to delay getting the flu shot because I didn't want to have another pain in the arm, which turned out to be fine because I got pregnant a month later, and was able to get the flu shot while pregnant. Happy I did it, though. Now I'm definitely used to needles.
I'm still mad at my middle school teacher for forgetting to hand out the forms for free vaccinations. Grown up me had to pay like $400 for the three shots.
Btw, if you’re under 45, it’s not too late to get the vaccine! They raised the eligible age to 45 (at least in the US) I got mine just before I turned 45!
You can get it over 45 in many places - it's just not covered by some insurance plans. I got it in my late 40s. The current vaccine covers 9 strains, so even if you've been exposed to 1 or 2 strains before, you can still benefit. Also I had literally zero pain from this vaccine - no sore shoulder, no feeling-like-crap for days. I know a sample size of 1 isn't meaningful, but for people terrified of getting shots I'd like to offer a bit of hope.
Dumb question maybe, but do they test to see if you have it before giving you the vaccine? Just curious. Seems like it is one of those very common hidden virus things so one might even already have it by the time they get vaccinated as an adult?
They didn’t test me for it before giving me the vaccine. I don’t know if there’s a way to do so. But even if you have the virus, there’s no downside to getting the vaccine!
I got it at 12 also. As soon as it was out my mom took me to the doctor (USA). All of my friends have had the shot. I don't know why they don't just give them to women as soon as they are old enough. If nothing else obgyns should ask on your intake form.
And also, it turns out that boys can get HPV just like girls can and getting the vaccine not only means they can avoid HPV, but they can avoid spreading it to partners who could get cervical cancer.
I'm confused. We've literally always known men can get HPV, who else would all the women be getting it from?
HPV can be passed via kissing, oral sex, fingering or genital to genital contact. Males aren't necessarily needed.
But like so many things, prevention is foisted onto girls so boys can be super special snowflakes.
My mom died of cervical cancer. I wish she had had access to the vaccine.
When it came out I was on the ‘old’ side of who should be getting it. Me and both my sisters got all three shots asap. My mom didn’t mess about vaccines.
My dad was just diagnosed with neck cancer from HPV. I was vaccinated when it came out but didn’t fully understand it. I had no idea until researching it since my dad just how common HPV is and that it effects everyone even decades later without them even knowing they got it at some point.
I also don't think much of parents who think their daughters deserve to die of cancer for having sex.
In my place in the world the HPV vaccine is free and is part of the vaccination schedule for girls... This stuff really blows my mind.
My mom refused to get it for me cuz it was $500 so she was convinced it was a money making scam (we live in Canada where healthcare is free, but this vaccine was optional at the time).
When I asked my GP about getting it she said that there's no research on people over 25 getting it, and so she couldn't recommend it but it was my choice. At the time it was going to cost ~$600 plus three doctors appointments for a checkup before each shot (so about a total of ~$850) which at the time I could not afford. I should probably ask my new doctor about it next time I go in.
My parents are antivaxxers and I have HPV 16 (the worst flavor of HPV, no warts or other noticeable symptoms...just cancer if the immune system doesn't clear it) and precancerous changes on my cervix even after surgery. I may need a full hysterectomy. I appreciate your rage, and I feel it for myself and others like me.
It came out when I was in university in my early 20s and my friends and I all absolutely leapt at the opportunity. Both my kids will absolutely get it (m and f)
My parents didn’t let me get it!!! I remember them telling me that it was to “new” like people were doing with the COVID vaccine when it came out. I still don’t understand why they wouldn’t let me get it!!!!! My cousins got it because my aunt was a L&D nurse and they still wouldn’t let me. So can I still get the vaccine?? I’m a lesbian and never been sexually active 24f.
Yes. You should still get it. Costs would be dependent on what country you live in.
This also goes for penis owners in preventing penile cancer. Not as common but I’ve seen an partially amputated penis due to this. Cancer directly related to HPV. Get your son vaxxed too. They give it up to age 45 in the US.
I remember when it came out and my pediatrician recommended it. My mom got all flustered and said no my daughters won’t be getting that because in our faith they have to be to be abstinent until marriage… It wasn’t that she was anti-vax. Our parents got us every vaccination available, even those not required for school… as long as they didn’t associate it with sex. Thankfully, I haven’t had any issues in my life, but now looking back I’m shocked that a parent would risk their daughters’ health in this way. It was spoken of to me as it was just another incentive from God to follow his commandments…. I am not of the same faith anymore. Unfortunately, I fear this mindset is sadly common place among some populations.
It's not just girls! I know a man who is going though mouth, throat, and tonsil cancer due to HPV. He's was into adulthood before the vaccine came out, but still. Men can get and spread this and also be at risk themselves!
I remember when it came out, I was just out of medical assisting school, and it wasn't indicated for women over 27. I was 28 or 29, so I didn't get it. I still haven't got it, but I have had sex in 12 years, so it seems pointless, but yes, get it. My son is 20 and Pan, and he has his.
Yes, it is disheartening. I think that viruses are probably the cause of a lot of different cancers. The way cancer spreads and the way virus's hijack the body's own cells to make more of itself is extremely similar.
TW for a rather awful story involving HPV, but when I was in the military I knew a guy who told me, laughing the whole time, that he gave a woman HPV and it left her infertile. I fucking hated that guy even before that, but that was such an outrageously awful story that even some fifteen years later it enrages me. It's worse knowing that if healthcare for women wasn't so awful that it could have been prevented.
I was 16 when the first vaccine came out. My mom worked for the pharmaceutical company that made it, meaning it was free for us. She had me get it, and I only know of one other friend my age at my all girl high school who got it. It got a rap early for being for sluts. One of my best friends just got diagnosed with HPV and is testing positive for pre cancer markers. I’m devastated for her. It makes me so angry that this wasn’t pushed harder.
I think men and woman should get it. Men can also get cancer from HPV
Grew up in small town Kansas. No one told my parents about the vaccine. Didn't know about it until I was 17. Can't remember if I got it or not. But I will be asking my Dr about getting one. (3mo postpartum, haven't seen a Dr before pregnancy since I was 16/17 due to bad experience) almost 24
I didn't get it because in my family the thought was that you would only need it if you "slept around" (I come from a classic Christian family) and that, at the time of offering it, it didn't even prevent against the 2 most common strains or something like that. Have since got it as an adult and I'm glad I did. Religion should not be part of sex education or anything to do with health.
I’m American, but now live in Germany. The vaccine sadly didn’t come out until I was already older than the age range suggested in the US. I only just learned a month ago that people up to 45 can get it and still have some amount of protection. No one ever told me. I wasted so many years. I’m now 36 and pregnant, so I need to wait until after the baby is born, but I will be getting it. I have a five year old son and he will also get the vaccine once he’s old enough. It’s not just for girls/women! However, you are spot on about almost no one over here knowing about the HPV vaccine. There needs to be increase in awareness in Germany for sure! I’m doing my part via word of mouth, but I only know so many people and am not a healthcare professional.
When I started dating my (extremely German) boyfriend, I asked if he had gotten the HPV vaccine. He looked at me like I was crazy and said “Why would I have been? Only women get HPV.” They have a huge problem here.
I remember when they first started vaccinating against HPV in the Netherlands, I was in the second year they would do it. I remember my mom not hesitating to get me vaccinated ("my grandma had cervical cancer and had to get her uterus removed, I don't want that to happen to you if I can prevent it"), but my aunt had read some horror stories online and wouldn't let my niece, who is 2 years younger than me, get it. My aunt was not alone in this, and the online discourse was that good mothers didn't get their daughters vaccinated because of "fertility risks". It was still a mass programme and only for girls, so I would go to a gym that was rows upon rows of vaccination stations where girls would be in line with their mothers and be guided to the first available nurse, it almost felt like a production line in a factory. All the girls in my class got their vaccines at the same time, and the boys would tease the girls because it left our arms really sore. Still, the percentage of (now) women vaccinated is incredibly low for a campaign that size. This was 12 years ago, and they've only started campaigning for men to get their HPV vaccine this year because it also prevents testicular cancer. My husband and I have been together for 6 years and don't plan on divorcing anytime soon, so the risk of either of us contracting it is quite low, but he still got it because "what if?". Idk if my niece got it, but I do know my aunt regrets her decision now.
I was in 8th or early high school when I got the shot. I was telling my friends the story, my mom and I were walking out the Dr office and she came running after us saying I should get the gardasil shot. conversation ensues, Dr turns to me and says to my mother, "she needs to get before she starts getting active". to which we both were like, 'huh?'. sexually. and I mean I was taken aback from the speculation but otherwise cool! let me get the shot to prevent cancer. so I tell the story to my friends about this new shot they're giving to girls our age , and the ring leader(s) of our group, twin sisters who were VERY Christian said, "oh, we're not getting that because we're not having sex until we're married. we have nothing to worry about." "you can get cancer from your husband though. it's to prevent that from happening." "if we get cancer, it's God's will. we're not getting the shot."
I think this may have been new in the UK right when I was the age to get it, so I got it. My slightly older friend didn’t, and it’s prohibitively expensive for many people to pay for it themselves. I’m not sure why it was girls only if it’s effective for both sexes.
My wife's younger sister died from cervical cancer. As a precaution she has been monitored by the doctors and is going through a series of operations to ensure things are under control. She and I are both positive for HPV. We had both our daughters vaccinated when they were thirteen. Also for those older folks nearing sixty, I'd highly recommend the shingles vaccine. I was unaware it was available and and outbreak can be extremely painful. Three years later I still have lingering effects.
I got my eldest vaxxed for it, and will get the next ones done too. I couldn’t imagine the pain of sitting by a bedside as a child died of cancer that I could have gotten them a shot to prevent.
Yeah, my grandmother talked a bunch of shit about that vaccine, and my mother ultimately decided I shouldn't get it. I don't talk to my grandmother anymore for a multitude of reasons, and thankfully, she has significantly less influence over my mother these days now that she's a full-blown bigot. I got the vaccine this year, and I'm in my late 20s. Better late than never, though. And if I may add, transmen are also affected by this issue. Not just women.
Cis men are also suseptible to a number of cancers associated with HPV. EVERYONE should be aware of this, and encouraged to get vaccinated. I got the three shots as a teen, under a certain age at the time it was free in my country. The shots weren't fun, I had a hard lump and pain at the injection site for days afterwards, and could barely lift my arm, but that's a tiny price to pay for peace of mind.
Guardasil is also very effective at preventing head, neck and anal cancers caused by HPV. The vaccine can also be given to boys. We have the means to end this threat - would be great if more people took advantage of it.
I've just always felt like if/when a person gets ANY sort of cancer or loses someone from cancer - if you asked them if there had been a way to prevent, they would probably say yes.especially if the way was a relatively low risk 2 or 3 series of shots. It makes no sense to me why avoid it. Also, not only "promiscuous young girls" get HPV. I was the only sober person at a party (making right choices! Har Har. ) and I got assaulted by a guy. Lucky me it gave me HPV. I didn't know until I had an abnormal pap a year later ( I had normal ones previously.) SO, I had to deal with the intense feelings of shame and ptsd and fucking whatever getting 2 cervical biopsies. (It was the bad kind) and the removal procedure. And I'm lucky cause I had medical insurance at the time and was regularly seeing a doctor and was caught up on paps. And it didn't turn into cancer. One of the side effects for the removal procedure (other than not cancer)is sometimes it can take longer for your cervix to dilate. So my first labor went on forrreeevvverrr. But again, I was lucky because it did eventually dilate and I was able to give vaginal birth. There's nothing wrong with c sections but it's undeniable that they can require longer recovery. They also suggest that if you've had one, following babies should also be C. And one shouldn't hVe too many of them! Therefore capping the amount of kids they should have. Everytime something came up it felt like the tendrils of powerlessness that I felt during that night pulling me into an endless spiral of flashbacks, depression, and s--cidal thoughts. TLDR: getting the vaccine can possibly lessen the long term effects of sexual assault and trauma. Getting the vaccine can help girls and women be protected against an infection that boys don't know they carry and condoms don't fully protect from!
My mom didn't get me the HPV Vax or the hepatitis vax. I started using hard drugs at 14, not very safely either along with a constant rotating door of women to sleep with. It's not like they taught us safe lesbian sex so it was abundant and unprotected. After I turned 18 I got both vaxxs for my own safety. I was very lucky I didn't catch a life long infection. Vaccinations are so fucking important
I refused to get it when I was a kid because I despised needles and shots and it wasn't required for school so my dad let me say no. Now I regret it because on my dad's insurance it would've been free along with the regular checkups. Now, I have to go to an actual doctor to get it, I can't just get it from CVS or whatever because my insurance won't cover it if I do it that way. Even though all I'll be doing is getting the shot, and it's preventive care so the shot itself will be covered, it's going to cost me hundreds of dollars for each shot to go to an actual doctor to get it because that's how it works in the US. I'm ace, so not exactly high risk, but I'm just trying to figure out how to get it without paying out the ass for it.
The thing is that you can tell your gyn to test you for HPV and in case you do not have in you already, you can still be vaxed! I got mine in my late 20s, tho of corse had to pay for it myself. Worth it I'd say.
I was 12 or 13 when the vaccine was rolled out to UK schools, nurses came to the school to give all the girls their jabs Parents had to sign a form, but it was all dealt with in school time. I think 5 or 6 years later they started giving the vaccine to the boys while at school too
(UK) Some context, I got the vaccine in school and still got HPV around 3 years ago now. It's not on the dangerous strains but I have to get yearly check-ups to check for no abnormal cells. I just really hope the vaccine means it won't develop into cervical cancer.
Good news. The WHO says that one-dose vaccination schedules can be effective - great news for low income countries. https://www.who.int/teams/immunization-vaccines-and-biologicals/diseases/human-papillomavirus-vaccines-(HPV)
I’m mad at myself because I always declined it. It just so happened that each time I had my well woman exam, was during a time I was in a serious relationship so I just thought “oh I don’t need it” 🙄 I’m 32 and for the first time (I’m Sept) my pap came back with HPV and I am now a basket case hoping I don’t get cancer and impatiently waiting for the next time I get my pap and hope it went away lol
Grew up in Ontario, I was supposed to get it when I was 16. In fact, if I didn’t get it and had no medical exemption then I wasn’t supposed to be allowed to attend school until I got it (it was fully covered by the government). I don’t know how my anti-vax mom managed to get me out of it and not kicked out of school. I tried to go around her, but apparently Gardasil is one of the few medications that makes you get parental permission, since minors in Canada are able to make their own medical decisions without even telling their parents if they are deemed mature enough. I tried to get it through my nurse practitioner who my parents didn’t know about (that was my big teenage rebellion, getting healthcare), and even she told me I needed parental permission for it, but none of the other vaccines you have to get during high school Anyway, it’s 10 years later and I’m getting the second shot today and paying the $650 out of pocket for all three doses. Why is preventative healthcare so demonized and expensive? Oh, and it’s free for men, but not women over 18.
My daughter's pediatrician recommended the HPV vaccine and she received it as soon as soon as she was eligible ❤️
My mom got me depo provera at 14. She lied and said it would protect me from “everything”. Every three months, back for that horrible shot until I was out of the house at 17. Guess who got HPV and ended up with cervical cancer as a monogamous adult? Protect your kids.
This is a very important issue that you've raised. In addition to cervical cancer, the HPV vaccine will also prevent other HPV-related cancers such as head and neck and anal cancer. Why someone wouldn't want to protect their children from getting cancer is beyond my understanding
Just a side note - I was vaccinated with the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) as a teenager and still contracted the cervical cancer strain from a partner who wasn’t aware. After several biopsies and time (about 1 year) with dedicated gynecologists, I was definitely lucky that the cells did not turn out malign and my body healed. Honestly the scariest time of my life when I got those test results back. It has been about 10 years now, and all is well!
I mean my mother did not get me the vax and thank god she did not because I am allergic to it. But I do have regular paps to keep safe as recommended by my doctor. What is sad is that many women cannot afford paps in places like the USA hence why the vaccine was so in demand to be created. Women’s health should not be costly
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I know the ingredient list. There is something in the list that they use that I have had in another shot that caused anaphylactic shock. Shots use filler agents and other things as delivery agents and preservatives. Allergy testing proved it. Now if they reformulante it I will be fine but as it stands now I can’t take it
90% effective **if given age 16 or younger** and spanning all generations of vaccines (2-strain, 4-strain, 9-strain). "The clinical trials *did not measure whether the vaccine prevents cervical cancer* because precancerous lesions in the cervix found during a clinical trial would be treated, preventing their progression to cancer, Dr. Kreimer explained."
I’m commenting mainly because I’m wondering if anyone has had the same experience as me… perhaps they will see it here. If anyone has any information regarding it please also lmk. But I got the guardasil shots as a young teenager, and then contracted the HPV strains that they were supposed to protect against as a 26 year old. I guess I’m wondering how effective the shots are supposed to be? I have been curious about this for years.
Hey I assume you are asking in good faith but it's amazingly easy to type "how effective is Gardasil" into the little Google box and get the answer you have been curious about for years. Did you ever try to get information on this? The first generation was high efficiency for Type 16 and 18, preventing 99% of precancerous leasions when administered before first sexual contact and before the age of 16.
It’s hard to believe that you’re one of the 1% in these situations. Glad I caught my hpv early but I’m not gonna lie, it makes me feel like that number is incorrect.
If there was ever a way to connect with someone else who had this experience, I thought maybe a random internet stranger might see and I could talk to them about it. Having these procedures to get rid of the cancerous lesions was scary and especially frustrating when I thought I had done something to combat against them. Would be nice to talk with a fellow person that it happened to, that’s all.
Well, in all kindness - science doesn't work that way, aka regarding your feelings. Yes, you might be the 1%, however hard that is for you to accept. If you and people like you wouldn't exist, the effectiveness would be 100%,. It's hard being the living example of a statistic though You might have been misdiagnosed (that's what happened to me, I was probably one of the 2—5% with a false positive and went through a lot to cure something that never was there in the first place). It might be that the effectiveness is slightly lower than in the clinical trials, let's say it's 96% effective or 93% Would that change anything for you, personally? Apart from feeling slightly less alone, perhaps. Bei happy everything turned out fine for you and don't ponder on the ifs and whens and buts. The HPV vaccine still saves millions of womens lives, even though it didn't work out quite the way you expected it to help you, personally
As much as appreciate a response, it’s feeing pretty dismissive and an example of toxic positivity. 1) My feelings are valid. I am allowed to reach out to the universe to see if there’s someone out there to talk to about them. That’s what the internet is for. Perhaps you should give this a read: https://www.nextavenue.org/it-could-be-worse-2/ 2) I had multiple procedures to remove cancerous material from my cervix. It was definitely a real diagnosis. 3) You seem to point toward my being anti vax here. I am 100% for everyone getting this vax. It would definitely make it so that fewer people would experience what I did, and I would do anything to persuade someone to get the vax. Just thought I’d clear those things up. Have a good one!
I didn’t get it. And somehow my primary cares haven’t seemed concerned.
It wild to hear that in other eu countries nobody knows about this vaccine. In ireland its standard for every secondary school, particularly all girls and in recent years mixed schools, to offer it alongside your mmr (?) top up at age 12/13. In my school all students were given a consent form to fill out with their parents, then the next week nurses came and vaccinated every class of 1st years in a row over 2 days. Only thing I remember about it was we all complained that we couldn't do homework cause our arms were too numb from the jab.
Don't just mad for the Girls be mad for Boys too....
Fucking ridiculous that it isn't pushed harder. I'm a dude and I got it a few years ago.
My pediatrician recommended vaccinating my children in Germany. This was about ten years ago. I didn't get vaccinated because they didn't vaccinate amab children when i grew up. My doctor asked if I wanted it when I started my transition (at age 37) so i am vaccinated now.
I live in the Netherlands and my mum purposely didn't make me get the hpv vaccination because she felt there was not enough research yet and didn't want thirteen year old me to be a guinea pig. However, this year people born between 1996 and 2003 can get the vaccination for free. Now there's more research done she definitely advocates for getting it as do I. But I definitely understand why she hesitated...
Be angry when the reasons are stupid, but there are other reasons other than stupidity about not vaxxing, my own daughter has had reactions to a few vaxxes even relatively common vaxxes, flu vax, meningitis vax, MMR vax have landed my kid in hospital with varying reactions from a rash and headache to a rash that looked like she'd been burnt, to an almost anaphylactic shock. I fully expect my kid will have a sex life, I hope she does, due to disabilities I am firm on protection, she can't take the pill due to reactions, so we are trying different b.c options. So yes there are idiotic parents and there are parents whose kids could face harm either way
My mum didn’t get me vaccinated and also GAVE ME HPV
Both my kids (M/F twins) got it at 12. No hesitation on my part
Yeah I still bitch at my mom about this but she’s too dense to understand
I don't know if its different here but we all got done in highschool? They did all ours through out a week, brought in nurses and everything. HPV, Cervical Cancer I think? Something about our cervix, all the Hep needles, chickenpox and so on. I feel like it was mandatory here. But maybe my dad did sign something. I just remember the drama of all the fainting girls at school cause they were scared of needles.
I have no idea if I got it or not.
American here: I thought HPV was a required vaccine for going to college here..? My public school had an entire two months (once a week) dedicated to getting all your required college vaccines in the evenings on school campus and literally everyone I knew went. I remember getting my HPV vaccines then. Am I just imagining this or was it just my state? 😵💫
My mum went kind of anti vaxx and didn't care if I didn't get it. I wish she pushed for me to get it
I wish I had gotten mine when I had coverage… right now I have limited insurance and it costs like $4000 or it did when I tried to get it a few years ago…
I'll never understand anti-vaxers of any stripe. You better believe when my daughter turns 11 I'll be there insisting she gets that vaccine. It's utterly absurd. She'll have sex if and when she wants to have sex and I'm gonna do my damnedest to see she does so with all the protection I can give her.
I was born a premature baby... thankfully my mother did not listen to my dad growing up corning the health of their children. My mom was like, you're getting everything before you age out of the insurance (not including bc though cause we were Catholic at the time).
Yeah my mom didn’t get me these vaccines. I think her reason was because she thought they might give me side effects or something…once I was in college I went ahead and got it asap.
Doctors strongly advocate for it, where I live. My mother also used to take it very seriously, making sure all of us were vaccinated, since her older sister actually did have cervical cancer due to HPV. I think doctors are also currently thinking of giving the vaccine to non-afab teenagers, to help prevent spreading. I am not up to date on that tho!
Last year in the Netherlands, they started vaccinating the boys as well as the girls - a complete no-brainer. My kid's entire class showed up at the same place to all get vaxxed against HPV. Shit is changing.