What is the cervical cancer vaccine for and why do pre- teens/teens need it?!
Question: Even if your not sexually active? What does it prevent? Who needs it?
Thanks
Answers: Even if your not sexually active? What does it prevent? Who needs it?
Thanks
The vaccine is designed to give you immunity to a range of viruses generically called the "human papilloma virus". Some of these have been linked with the causes of cervical cancer and so this is a way to in theory reduce the risks of developing that in the future.
The initial programme is for 18+ at least in the UK, but then it'll be extended to the under 18's later on.
The teenage thing I guess is simply because they don't know when people will become sexually active and thus it's safer to give it at a young age to prevent the virus infection as it can take many years from infection to cancer to occur.
Pre-teens is probably because there is always a chance of catching this virus even through non-sexual contact (less likely for the cancer causing ones), and there is some research that people as young as 13 are sometimes sexually active in some areas.
HPV...read this article first, and don't bother getting it
http://www.newstarget.com/022404.html
This vaccine is intended to provide protection against the HPV virus, but only for upto 85% of HPV. The main concern however, is that there has been an insufficient length of time (approx. 5 years) of trials to determine any likely side effects. This and the fact that the trials where conducted by the manufacturerers themselves (Merck and GlaxoSmithKline) and not an independant body, is of concern in itself! Further the age of the study group was 15 -26 years, and yet it is being promoted to girls under 15 that have yet to reach puberty. What effect is this likely to have? Who knows?
There are numerous articles on the safety and possible side effects and indeed the long term effectiveness of Gardasil to raise sufficient doubt in ones mind as to the necessity of having this particular vaccine. In all it appears that this drug was rushed through before full approval and in fact the FDA have stipulated for Merck to continue the monitoring and long term trial for girls under 15 years to confirm its safety. For us as parents there is sufficient doubt as to the safety that we postponed getting the vaccination for our daughter, until further studies and information comes to hand.
Following are some links to articles on the vaccine which you may wish to read. Ultimately it comes down to a risk evaluation of your own self and if you believe that you may be sufficiently at risk of contracting the disease and the precautions that you may need to take so as to minimise the risk.