I’m a waffler when it comes to the HPV Vaccine, a vaccine preventing some types of the human papillomavirus virus that can cause cervical cancer, for young girls.
I want to prevent my daughter from getting HPV.
But, I’ve read The Handmaiden’s Tale and I’m concerned about vaccinating an entire generation of girls with something relatively new.
I respect Christiane Northrup, MD as the leading women’s health provider in the country. You’ve probably seen her on Oprah discussing hormones, orgasms and stress incontinence.
The Kathleen Show interviewed Christiane Northrup about whether the HVP Vaccination is best for young girls. She also spoke about her book, Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Understanding the Crucial Link Between Mothers, Daughters, and Health
To listen to the interview click here.
As I said, I’ve vacillated on this issue – I wrote one story for it and then hedged and changed my mind. We still have 1.5 years left to make a decision (the vaccine is administered when a girl is between 9 and 24), so the advice of The Girl Revolution readers would be helpful.
Did you get the vaccine for your daughter? Will you? Why or why not?
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6 comments ↓
I’m 20 now, and I got the vaccine for myself a few years ago. (It hurts!) My own mother would never talk to me about STDs, intimacy with a lover, etc, but a friend’s mother convinced me to get it. At my last pap smear (Jan) I tested positive for HPV. It’s not dangerous -I go in next month for a monitor check up- but honestly, I was annoyed that after such a painful set of shots, I still got it! Would it have been better not to get it? I’ll let you know what my doc says after my check up.
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Oh man Anna. I’m so sorry to hear that. I know it doesn’t prevent all types of HPV and it’s not 100%.
Is the shot more painful than polio or chicken pox?
I don’t know – it sounds really good in theory – but like you said, it’s new and you worry about long term effects.
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Oh, it’s not really a big deal (I hope!). Dr told me that my body would take care of it without meds, but in case it’s one of the more dangerous strands I need to be tested.
I never got the chicken pox vaccine, and I don’t remember if I got the polio vac – if I did, I was very young. HPV vac is a series of three shots, and they get progressively more painful. The first is just a pinch that you can expect with a blood draw, but after the third, my arm throbbed for a few hours. I was still able to drive, carry my daughter, etc, but my friend (who’s mother persuaded me to get it) said “I didn’t cry, but I wanted to!”
It wasn’t painful enough that I’d advise not getting it based on that; mostly I’m just annoyed that I still got HPV!
Anna’s last blog post..New Catalog
I’m a DES daughter. That means my mom took a toxic drug when she was pregnant with me so she wouldn’t miscarry me. It also means that I’ve had cervical cancer, heart surgery, severe endometriosis, etc. I don’t blame my mom for taking it because her doctor gave it to her along with her prenatal vitamins and she took them because he told her to and she’s of a generation that does what they’re told by authorities. However, based on my continuing problems created by this approved drug, I’m really skeptical about new vaccines–especially ones for something preventable (and really, we have to be preventing other stuff at the same time)–and especially ones recommended for a whole generation of girls.
We don’t know how this vaccine will affect the babies of girls who have gotten it. We don’t know how menopause will be for these women. We don’t know about fertility. We do know that there have been some severe side effects from the vaccine.
I don’t know if the vaccine is a bad idea long term. But then neither does that company that makes it (unless they’re really evil). But HPV is absolutely preventable by using condoms. And condoms prevent all sorts of other nasties, so why would we risk our daughters and grandchildren and who knows who else by making them get this unnecessary vaccine.
And I’m someone who had cervical cancer. I know how awful it is and how scary and that women die from it. I’m lucky that surgery has kept me cancer free for almost 20 years now. Deeply lucky.
And we’ve got to change the culture of sexuality so that everyone who is not seriously monogamous and both parties tested by doctors before unprotected sex uses condoms every single time. I know they break, but I think the risk of contracting HPV from a broken condom is less than the risk of taking an unproven vaccine.
I’m not anti-vaccine, either. We’ve got some older vaccines that have proven themselves to be largely safe. My kids are getting those. I just think this one is too risky. Especially when all the tests were done on teenagers, but they recommend it as young as 9. No tests were done on girls that young. And yet it was still approved for that use.
I think the issue is much more complicated than how much the shots hurt.
Love to all.
Thank you so much for that perspective Jenna. Your insight into the consequences to the next generation are very helpful.
We don’t know. The vaccine is a big risk.
I’m not sure this is true though: But HPV is absolutely preventable by using condoms.
I believe HPV can be spread through digital and oral stimulation as well. In other words – foreplay.
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