HPV Vaccine for Boys

Sunday fun fact:

*** High-risk HPV types (like in the two vaccines) have been detected in 99.7% of all cervical cancers.

*** Women with high-risk HPV are thirteen times more likely to develop a high-grade lesion.

You wouldn't believe how imperfect physicians are and they are happy pass their misinformation along to you or tell you not to worry it!!! These are unfortunately the same physicians that say "oh my patients don't get HPV", "oh, my patients would decline"....this physician is not following ACOG guidelines if he is doing in his practice. I spend a great part of my day simply telling the physician and staff about HPV. They are as misunderstood and many other folks.

HPV cannot be prevented by use of condoms like other STD's. It's passed through saliva, fingers touching privates, TMI - you get the picture.

So vaccinating boys in addition to girls will not only prevent the spread of genital warts, it will help wipe out cervical cancer.

Detractors of this vaccine will correctly point out that the vaccine will only cover 4 types of HPV strains, but these strains cause the VAST majority of cervical cancers. Wiping THESE out will be a godsend.

As women, we can't MAKE our men have sex only with their mates. It is foolhardy to think that every man and every woman getting married will be virgins. THIS is why the vaccine makes sense, because even being manogomous once married will not guarantee preventing HPV and cancer.

I got my son vaccinated as a gift to him and his wife-to-be. I don't want my future DIL to get cancer one day, if I can help prevent it. It's up to her mom to get her vaccination on her side if she has been sexually active with someone other than my son before marriage.

I hope that in 20 years that this vaccine will be as routine as the DPT shot.

Dawn

Do your own research (research, not just reading random internet sites) and talk more with your doctor about this vaccine. This subject has come up on Mamapedia before. You are only going to get mostly uninformed/semi-informed and emotional reactions on this site. There is scientific information available about this vaccine that will be much more useful in your decision making.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Vaccines/HPV/Index.html

My daughter is 10 and will be getting this vaccine before she is 12. HPV is an extremely pervasive (the majority of us have it or will have it) and sometimes dangerous virus.

There's no proof it works and because it's been tested for just a few short years, no one knows if it will impact fertility or cancer later on....or any other issues, like auto-immune. For either boys or girls. NO LONG TERM STUDIES. Not to mention the multiple deaths directly linked to the HPV vaccine....which is a horrible death that includes blot clots and neurological disorders.

I always compare any vaccine to the AIDS vaccine. Would you give your kid an AIDS vaccine if it had been studied for 3 years? The DTaP has a longer track record, so maybe being more comfortable with those I can see.

As of June 1, 2009, the CDC reported that over 25 million doses of Gardasil, which is recommended for women between ages 9-26, have been distributed in the U.S. and there was an average of 53.9 VAERS reports per 100,000 vaccine doses. Of these, 40 percent occurred on the day of vaccination, and 6.2 percent were serious, including 32 reports of death.

Weigh the risks vs. the benefits. Listen to your gut. It will never steer you wrong.

When my son is old enough he WILL get it. Like Dawn said we need to cover both sides. My friend is battling cervical cancer that she got from HPV. She WAS a virgin when she married her husband but he WASN'T. I want my son to be protected as well as his future spouse. And my daughter will receive it as well when that time comes.

Holy cow...YES, I will be vaccinating my boys.

It's amazing that people don't want to do this. When the polio vaccine came out in 1955, people were LINING UP to get vaccinated because everyone saw the effects of getting the disease. It had only been under clinical trials for LESS THAN ONE YEAR. The vaccine itself had only been developed in 1952.

When scientists make a breakthrough that cures or prevents disease...they move FAST! That's why it's called a breakthrough!

ALSO: People need to research how vaccine works. It's not the vaccine being faulty that causes adverse reactions to the adjuvants...it's the individual HAVING the reaction. We are SUPPOSED to have an immune response. Some (very few, statistically) are allergic to the adjuvants in some vaccines which cause the body to have immune response. It's not the vaccine manufacturer's fault. It's an individual person's allergy/adverse immune response.

ETA: Penny, YES I am still preventing somethng. Cervical cancer is primarily caused by the strains of HPV Gardasil was developed to prevent.

Nope. My son is 12 and didn't get it. I REFUSE to give that shot to ANY of my children. If my adult daughter wants it - she's free to do so - I just told her to do her research and reminded her that the FDA didn't do its due diligence when they fast-tracked and approved the vaccine.

My son, who turns 11 next year? WILL NOT GET it either.

in about 50 years when it's actually been TESTED and has a track record, sure.
in the meantime, i'm glad there are plenty of guinea pigs.
khairete
S.

I had my son get it when he was 17, to protect his future partners. I have HPV and had surgery for pre-cervical cancer years ago, so I fully support this vaccine.

I don't know if they need it at 11, but when you think there is a likelihood he's going to become sexually active, sure, go for it. Or, get it over with and do it now.

No way on this one. Too new, and too many complications, check the nvic website for stats. And www.truthaboutgardasil.com.

We REFUSED it for our 17 yr old daughter.

I have always followed the Dr recommendations on vaccines but this one is a he$$ NO.

My Ob/Gyn refused it for his 3 daughters. What does that tell you? He is one of the most highly respected Dr.'s in this area.

I'm not going to get into the debate about it...

but yes I had all 3 of my boys vaccinated.

When my younger son and daughter are old enough they will get it also.

It's my job to protect my kids and to me that is what I'm doing from something that could harm them in the future.

ETA: I am by no means a guinea pig lining my kids up for this... I got HPV when I was a teen. It was caught at an annual pap. But I went through horrible painful treatments to get rid of it. I was 17 when the treatments began and at 18 I was to suppose to go under and have surgery because they were at a level 4 pre cancer cells. Then I found out I was pregnant with my oldest and thankfully the "stress" of the pregnancy destroyed the cells. But I had a chance of my son being born and having problems with the HPV cells injuring his eyes and possibly being blind from it over time. The only thing they could tell me was time will tell. I was also told that after the pregnancy the cancer cells could kick into overtime and get worse. That was the longest pregnancy being worried the entire time and a long stressful 6 months after having him until I knew my choices didn't harm my son and that I no longer had the pre cancer cells. Before anyone judges me on still having sex while I had HPV, my boyfriend and I was told it was still safe to have sex as long as it was with a condom. Well now I know that is not true. Also we found out what happens when you are a week late with the depo shot and a condom breaks.. btw he also went through a painful treatments to get rid of it.

So yes my kids got the vaccine/ will get the vaccine because of my own experiences, not because I'm a guinea pig. I hope that while your putting other down that your choices don't affect your children and they will live healthy lives and never have to deal with this... when it could have been avoided.

You don't know peoples reasoning for vaccinating their children and its not your place to judge them. You need to STOP and THINK and could have stated the facts as you see them with out the reference.

I would not do it. My son (and daughter) will not be doing this.

Gosh, it saddens me that SO many moms here are just lining up like guinea pigs to have their children injected with this vaccine.

There are NO long term studies on this vaccine for boys or girls. The only way a vaccine currently gets pulled from the market is when enough people are injured from it. That is how the first Rotavirus vaccine got pulled-only after thousands of children developed intussusception from it.

Guys, you need to STOP and THINK before you allow your children to be potentially harmed by these vaccines. Studies have shown that annual paps are JUST as effective as Gardisil in preventing deadly cervical cancer. If your daughters have their annual pap, those early cervical cell changes are discovered, and removed, and biopsied. If they are precancerous, steps are taken to remove all of them. The rate of cervical cancer in the US is 8 per 100,000. The rate of injury due to the vaccine is actually higher than that.
The DEATH rate of cervical cancer is 1 in 40,000. According to 23 Merck and CDC studies on the efficacy and safety of Gardasil, the DEATH rate of the vaccine was 1 in 912. This number included the "placebo control" which was actually an aluminum-only injection (The very component of the Gardisil vaccine that is considered neurotoxic). They added this "placebo" in with a saline-only placebo to help skew numbers of adverse effects (basically, this means they could say, "See, about the same number of people have adverse reactions from a placebo than the vaccine iteself". And the general public would assume a placebo meant ONLY a saline-only injection).

Please just consider this: Those of us who have done research (this means reading the studies on PubMed, or in the Merck journals, or the vaccine inserts, or on the CDC websites), and not just reading the rhetoric, we have NO MOTIVE to keep your kids unvaccinated other than keeping them safe until we can PROVE the vaccines aren't causing harm. Can you say as much for the vaccine manufacturers?

And for those on here that claim the vaccine was a "gift" to their future daughters-in-law, or for their daughters, the only thing you are giving them is an uncertain future with regard to their fertility, because there is some very compelling evidence piling up that this vaccine is causing infertility.

Please, please do your own research. The government and drug company websites are NOT giving you the whole picture. Read the other side, too, and THEN make an informed decision.

ETA: Gardasil only protects against 2 strains of HPV. Guess what happens when you get the other 18-25 strains? Still think you are preventing something? Think again.

I just took my 11 year old to the Dr on Friday & our Dr told me about the HPV vaccine for boys. He said its the first vaccine given to a possible carrier since boys obviously can't get cervical cancer. He told me that it's a significant investment for a family since most insurance companies aren't covering it for boys - series of 3 vaccines at $200 each. He said he would never recommend a vaccine he wouldn't give to his own kids & that his girls got the vaccine & his boys didn't. Love that our Dr is so honest with us, gave me the info & let me make the decision. We opted for no vaccine for our 3 boys. Hope that helps & good luck!

My grandson had it right before he started middle school, my sister told me my nephew will be getting it this summer, he turns 11 in a couple of weeks. Their parents see it as protecting their sons and their future spouses, I agree.

Yes, you should vaccinate your son. Drs have been recommending the vaccine for boys for some time now because they too can get the virus and pass it on to girls.