Sunday, 04 September 2011
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Hey Girls! Get Your HPV Shot!
Despite this:
"Millions of Americans - women and men - become infected with HPV each year, though most show no symptoms and clear the virus on their own. But some strains persist and can cause genital warts and cancer. About 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and about 4,000 die from it, according to CDC statistics."
Only half of teenage girls are getting the new vaccine to prevent HPV. The reasoning, despite its cost and 3-trip hassle, seems to boil down to sex.
Parents seemingly don't want to think that their little girl is going to grow up and someday have sex. And seeing that 26% will by age 15-- parents might want to wise up. The vaccine needs to be done before being exposed to the virus; therefore, the recommended age of vaccination is 11 or 12.
There are concerns, as always, with a new vaccine that hasn't been on the market long enough to see its side effects. But it seems like the development of this vaccine would be empowering enough to have a higher population of girls, and the families concerned with their health, on board.
What do you think about the HPV vaccine? Do you think it necessary to have a sex talk before getting the vaccination-- or to just get it done before there's any risk?
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- From: funnygirlblues
- About Me: I am a 6'1" girl trying to put my life together in New York City. I love to write, read, cafe hop, and swim when I have the chance. I believe good health has its foundations in good mental health, and do my best to keep that in order as well. Everything's a work in progress.
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Comments (63)
15%? HAHA
I'm indecisive when it comes to new vaccines. With the old ones you can weigh the odds and make an informed choice with the new ones there's more of a gamble. I think sexual education should be something kids grow into gradually and naturally and not be some huge shocking discussion when they reach a certain age. Similar to the way they learn to read, they need to be taught a level at a time.
i got mine done when i was in my early 20s.. i hated it.. not because i had to make 3 trips.. it's getting injected with an ass load of vaccine made my arm numb.. that feeling made me cringe.. but i'm sexually active and i want to have children some day so that's the reason why i got it done.. i don't want to not be able to have kids..
NOPE.
I'll never get that vaccine.
my doctor didn't really tell me about so I didn't get it. now I'm too old and my insurance wont cover it. :(
I got me even though I'm monogamous and I always will be. I just wanted security.
I'm pretty sure I've already gotten that vaccination a couple of years ago. I didn't have any complications or reactions to it.
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I got mine! The second time affected me most, making my arm go numb and feel super heavy for about an hour. Other than that no side effects. (:
I wish the vaccine was promoted more... I was raped when I was 18 and the vaccine hadn't yet come "into the light". I got a small wart shortly after the rape. The doctor helped me get it taken care of and said I had HPV. I felt like shit for months - on top of being raped, the piece of shit had given me an STD and I felt tainted and diseased... About four months later I saw an ad on the television for the vaccine. I burst into tears. Had I seen that ad just a few months earlier, I could have at least had a CHANCE to fight the STD.
Some days it still gets to me (5 years later), even though I've never had any more symptoms what so ever since (no warts or anything either), but I still think about how things might have been different if I'd been able to get the vaccine just in time :-\. I hope more people take it seriously and get it.
I got it and I recommend it. I had it done a few years ago and I don't regret it at all.
Not going to get it, because 1: I hate shots. 2: I'm a virgin and am not going to sleep with anyone til I'm married and 3: I don't see any point in getting a newly popularized vaccine just because everyone else is.
Nope. Not happening. There's no reason for me to get it. I'm only going to be sleeping with one man for the rest of my life and that man is my husband. And that being said the man that's going to be my husband is a virgin as well.
I got this before I was sexually active (and I've only been with one person, now and for the rest of my life). I had abnormal cells during my first pap smear (was pregnant at the time). Still had them at my 6 week postpartum check up. I had to have a biopsy and my doctor told me that I had HPV so either I was born with it (which I was told can't happen) or I somehow got it from my fiance (who has also only ever been with me) or the shot DIDN'T work.
The vaccine only protects against 4 of the 40+ different types of HPV. If you practice safe sex and make sure your partner(s) are tested before any sexual encounters, you'll be fine. It's not like it's a guarantee to not having genital warts or cervical cancer.
As far as the whole concern of it possibly "encouraging sex," I think that's bs. I got the shot when I was younger and never in my mind did I think, "OMG! LESS CHANCE OF HPV! I CAN HAVE SEX NOW! WHOOO!" I knew it was a shot against an STD, but all I thought of it was, "okay another shot... >_<;" I don't think at 11 or 12, a girl would be linking the shot to sex, unless she was already starting to get into it.
@xKateElizabethx@xanga - I just wanted to say that I think it is fantastic that you speak openly about the rape and after affects. There are so many things that people just don't talk about and it gives it a power that it shouldn't have.
I am one of the 12,000 for 2011. I was diagnosed last month and am two weeks into healing from a radical hysterectomy and lymph node removal. As soon as I'm strong enough I'll start chemo & radiation. If my cancer was caused by HPV and could have been prevented had they had the shot when I was younger I would go back to my younger self and pop that needle in myself. My daughter has been vaccinated.
I haven't gotten it. It just has never been convenient because I'm going here and there and everywhere. It's always in the back on my mind, though. :/
My mom works in the medical field and she advises AGAINST me getting it, because it's new medicine and the long term effects haven't been studied yet.
Already got it a few years ago. No bad side effects.
hurts like a bitch when you get them but other than that no side effects from me :)
It's a new vaccine and I'm iffy when it comes to new vaccines because, even though it's been tested several times (hopefully) before being open to the public, each person has a different biological make up and can react differently to the vaccine. The longer it's out the more exposed it is to everyone. Who knows? After ten years, some people may come forward with horrible after effects of taking the vaccine.
In any case, I'm in a monogamous relationship with my husband. We were each other's first, and we had blood tests before we sealed the deal to make sure.
It was way easier for me to wait to have sex with my husband than to risk my life on that stupid shot. You can't discount the lives of those who have been so negatively impacted by that vaccination. Why is it so much harder for people to learn responsibility? And when the time comes, I'll discuss it with my daughter, and very sincerely hope that she chooses to be selective and wait for her future husband, but if not, I want her to be open with me about it too. Not everyone who chooses to not get that vaccine is misinformed or just scared of their little girl growing up. They are just not getting medication put into them because advertisements are telling them to without giving them the real facts.
what people don't seem to understand is that even if you only have sex with one person in your life you can still get HPV from them if they have it.
only 10% of people remain virgins until marriage, and even they can contract an STD if they're not also their partner's first AND their partner didn't contract it from their mother in the womb.