It is a 3 shot series, so she needs to start it soon. She should get the HPV vaccine and also the Meningitis B vaccine (Trumenba or Bexsero).
Meningitis B vaccine is NOT the same as the Meningitis Conjugate vaccine kids receive in middle school (and booster at age 16).
What behavior? Lifelong virginity? Or counting on marrying another virgin? I don’t see any other way to assure your child does not become infected. There is no way to test your partner, and it only takes one exposure.
There would not be near the resistance to this vaccine if not for the sex aspect of it. There are a lot of parents with their heads in the sand about their childrens’ sexual behavior.
Reminder: a significant number of VIRGINS have HPV.
This isn’t a moral issue. This isn’t a “purity” issue. This is a CANCER issue.
Even if one could control one’s child’s sexual behavior with any certainty ( a fool’s errand), one cannot have any insurance regarding the sexual behavior of any partners. Additionally, as others have pointed out here, even virgins are exposed to HPV in different ways. Living a chaste life is not adequate protection.
Throughout our lives, we’ve wished for a cure for cancer. Here’s something better, a way to prevent cancer in the first place backed by numerous studies and many, many countries.
yep Nrdsb4; i think your right. when it first came out, and my kids were early teens & tweens, I said NO because of sex aspect of it. I changed my mind as my teens got older. Now 3 have had it and soon my youngest will. Why not? I’m inundated by the teen/college world right now and see absolutely no reason to not get the vaccination.
but regarding reactions, i had a severe reaction to a vaccine last year - the tetanus. Pretty awful; so i get where people would stop the series; just glad they started it to begin with. It protects others as well as your kid.
And what if your child is raped? You don’t have any control over that. 
My sister and I were straight arrows, but we each had close calls with sexual assault. So this isn’t just a hypothetical.
Thanks for that important reminder.
AFAIK, the only way to “minimize” risk to HPV is by wearing a body condom 24/7. HPV does not require penetration to spread.
Well, I skimmed this thread and it’s been informative. At first I was thinking I should get the HPV vaccine, but if a good number of people get HPV just going about daily life and not through having sex, then I guess there’s not much point since I’ve surely already been exposed. In fact, it sounds like a vaccine that probably needs to be administered in very young childhood.
Yup, MLH. I was assaulted long before I became voluntarily sexually active.
As a side note: I despise the term virgin but I figured it’s an accessible term for people who think their kids are “pure.”
“At first I was thinking I should get the HPV vaccine, but if a good number of people get HPV just going about daily life and not through having sex, then I guess there’s not much point since I’ve surely already been exposed. In fact, it sounds like a vaccine that probably needs to be administered in very young childhood.”
Yes, it is recommended that children are given it as pre-teens. How old are you, @anonymityyy? Better late than never. From the CDC:
"HPV vaccine is recommended for young women through age 26, and young men through age 21. HPV vaccine is also recommended for the following people, if they did not get vaccinated when they were younger:
young men who have sex with men, including young men who identify as gay or bisexual or who intend to have sex with men through age 26;
young adults who are transgender through age 26; and
young adults with certain immunocompromising conditions (including HIV) through age 26."
Let’s apply that logic to another scenario:
I have driven without my seatbelt before and didn’t die. I could have died if someone hit me, but since that hasn’t happened, there’s no use in using my seatbelt.
The CDC started recommending that boys get the HPV vaccine in 2011. It had been approved for boys in 2009 but not recommended or promoted. At that time (2011) my middle son was 20 and had been away at college for two years. I encouraged him to get the vaccine, but he wouldn’t do it. My older daughter got it when it first came out and my younger son was 15 when it was approved for boys so he got it. Unfortunately I was never able to convince my other son to get it and at that point I figured it may have been too late.
Nope, anecdotes don’t matter (are junk science) unless they happen to you.
I’m sure the reaction described by @scubadive was just anecdotal to the parents of that young woman.
D was advised not to get this vaccine (around 2008-2010) due to the severe reactions a reputable and well trained provider had seen in her patients. Her MD described exactly the types of reaction detailed by scubadive. D did choose to get it a number of years later.
So one can be pro vaccine and still individually evaluate the pros and cons or a NEWLY INTRODUCED vaccine.
Absolutely!
@dietz199 that was my feeling (wanting to evaluate any cons with the newly introduced vaccine). My oldest was probably around 10 (?) when the vaccine first came out. Considering her age, I was in no hurry to get it and wanted to wait until it had been out for a little while. She eventually did get it as I mentioned above, as has my 17 y/o son. I can’t recall if my 14 y/o son has gotten it yet - if he didn’t, he will get it at his well visit this year. Youngest is 12 so she will get it in the next year or two. I personally don’t know anyone who has had a bad reaction to it thankfully.
Is this post for real? If your daughter had been receiving regular medical care all along, the pediatrician would have brought up this topic at least 6 years ago and continued to do so until she received the vaccine series.
And even if your child is committed to celibacy, assaults can and do happen. It would be awful for anyone dealing with a rape to get a potentially deadly virus on top of that.
This analogy is a bit silly. I understand what you’re trying to say, but wearing a seatbelt on one occasion is not intended to prevent injury in car crashes for the rest of my life. I’m not saying that I will never get HPV because I haven’t gotten it in the past. In fact, I’m saying that it sounds like I probably already have it.
I’m 25 and would only undertake the expense, pain, and potential side effects of the vaccine if the benefit looked pretty solid. I remember my friends in high school talking about how painful it was; several of them didn’t finish the series because their experiences were so bad. If everyone is already walking around with HPV, and the vaccine is only really effective if you don’t already have HPV, then the benefit sounds pretty negligible. However, it sounds great for very young children who may not already have been exposed through everyday life!
My needle-phobic D just finished her series of 3 HPV shots. She had the 1st one and the. Didn’t schedule the follow ups. In the meantime, they’ve developed a vaccine that prevents against at least 9 strains of HPV. She-and I and her docs all thought it was a great idea for her to get the series and her insurer said as long as she started the series before she turned 27, they’d cover 100%. She and we wanted whatever protection possible against cancer and she is glad to have gotten this series of shot.
Other then the usual shot site discomfort any time you are poked in the arm, she didn’t Mention any side effects and she’s VERY sensitive.
In any case, what you mention and I’m mentioning are annecdotes. The idea of a vaccine to prevent cancer is very appealing to me. The medical evidence is pretty clear that this vaccine can prevent several deadly cancers. I want that for my D and everyone who can benefit from it. That’s why many countries have strongly recommended their people get it.
For those whose kids received the vaccine at 11,12 and such are you doing or encouraging.boosters before they depart for college? Gardasil came out in the US in 2006, I wonder why ‘studies suggest’ at least 6 years - and not say 12. That’s a big differential.
There doesn’t appear to be a protocol for a booster - or booster series. Are these kid who were vaccinated at a young age operating under a false sense of protection when they head off to college?