HPV Vaccine, and Parents' view on sex

[Lonestar]

Houston Chronicle

Study finds ideas about sex don't bar HPV vaccine use
Moms surveyed by UTMB make decision from a medical viewpoint
By TODD ACKERMAN
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 23, 2008, 11:11PM


Local researchers have found that mothers' views about premarital sex don't affect their decisions on whether their pre-teen or teenage daughters should get the vaccine against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

The survey, by a team at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, appears to refute the perception that mothers who opt against their daughters receiving the vaccine for the human papillomavirus do so because they oppose sex before marriage.

"This is a decision about parenting, vulnerability and vaccine attitudes, not sexuality," said Susan Rosenthal, a UTMB pediatric psychologist and the study's lead author. "Mothers who haven't had their daughter vaccinated yet most often said they want more time to learn about the vaccine."

The survey, which appears in the September Journal of Adolescent Health, involved about 150 mothers at a UTMB pediatric clinic in 2007. The women were of mixed socioeconomic levels and ethnicity.

The vaccine, Gardasil, was licensed in 2006 for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26. Health officials recommend it for girls at age 11 or 12. It is also offered in "catch-up" vaccination campaigns to teens and women in their 20s.

The vaccine was the subject of heated debate in the 2007 Texas Legislature, after Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order that would have required schoolgirls to be inoculated with it. Some legislators argued that Texas girls shouldn't be "the study group" for the vaccine. Others argued it would encourage teenage sexual activity.

UTMB researchers didn't ask whether mothers feared such an effect. They found, however, that mothers who wanted their daughters to remain virgins until marriage were just as likely to have them get the vaccine as those who didn't expect their daughters to wait until marriage to have sex.

Rosenthal said mothers who provided more supervision for their daughters when the girls were with peers — "reducing opportunity for sex to just happen" — were more likely to opt for the vaccine.

Perry's order was eventually overturned. Texas lawmakers may not reconsider the issue of whether to require the vaccines for schoolchildren until 2011.

The survey was funded by Merck, the vaccine's manufacturer, and the National Institutes of Health.

So, either their the anti-vaccine woo-woos...or they are lying in the study and can't bring themselves to say "because my sweet little thing will become a slut" to the administrators of the survey.

Nice.

[Vohu Manah]

Well let us be honest with ourselves for a moment, most parents are stupid. I know that there is a separate thread on the subject already but this sort of ties into the recent increase in measles cases, or the hospitalizations of children in San Diego from chicken pox a couple of months ago.

I recently interviewed a highly recommended pediatrician in my area when the subject of vaccination schedule came up (I considered it a plus that she administers the HPV vaccine, but my child is male). When I told her I wasn't one of those crazy parents and we'll be vaccinating our child fully she genuinely seemed relieved (actually she laughed and said "Glad to hear that."). She may have just humoring me but still.

[Darth Wong]

In our area, you need to get vaccinations if you want to put your kid in public school, and most of the kids are in public school, so I'd say it stands to reason that most parents don't buy into this hysteria. I doubt it's more than a very small fraction of parents who buy into it, although their media footprint may make them look like a bigger group.

[Vohu Manah]

Same here but it is piss easy to either fake those records or simply get a waiver.

[Death from the Sea]

In our area, you need to get vaccinations if you want to put your kid in public school, and most of the kids are in public school, so I'd say it stands to reason that most parents don't buy into this hysteria. I doubt it's more than a very small fraction of parents who buy into it, although their media footprint may make them look like a bigger group.

it is the same here in Texas, but I don't think the vaccine to prevent an STD and it's side effect is mandatory and why should it be?

chicken pox, mumps, measles, rubella, etc... those are the kinds of vaccines required here. What kind of vaccinations do they require where you are?

[General Zod]

it is the same here in Texas, but I don't think the vaccine to prevent an STD and it's side effect is mandatory and why should it be?

You do realize that a lot of people start messing around before they're 18 right? As well as the fact that you can get STDs through blood transfusions in cases where the hospital makes a serious cockup?

[Illuminatus Primus]

In our area, you need to get vaccinations if you want to put your kid in public school, and most of the kids are in public school, so I'd say it stands to reason that most parents don't buy into this hysteria. I doubt it's more than a very small fraction of parents who buy into it, although their media footprint may make them look like a bigger group.

The religious exemptions are ones you get with the school system so your kids can not get the required vaccinations and still sponge of the government's education benefits to the public whilst endangering the other students, children of intelligent (or simply not retarded) parents.

[Middleclass]

it is the same here in Texas, but I don't think the vaccine to prevent an STD and it's side effect is mandatory and why should it be?

You should pay more attention to our governor.

Link

Of course, this still allows for religious exemption, but we are in Texas.

[Cycloneman]

So, either their the anti-vaccine woo-woos...or they are lying in the study and can't bring themselves to say "because my sweet little thing will become a slut" to the administrators of the survey.

Nice.

Seeing as how the study shows similar rates in those mothers who really don't want their kids to have sex before marriage, and those who don't expect their kids to have sex, it's pretty clearly anti-vaccine bullshit.

They found, however, that mothers who wanted their daughters to remain virgins until marriage were just as likely to have them get the vaccine as those who didn't expect their daughters to wait until marriage to have sex.

[Death from the Sea]

it is the same here in Texas, but I don't think the vaccine to prevent an STD and it's side effect is mandatory and why should it be?

You do realize that a lot of people start messing around before they're 18 right? As well as the fact that you can get STDs through blood transfusions in cases where the hospital makes a serious cockup?

ok, but that is part of the risk of sex these days. Other vaccinations that are required are not spread via sexual contact is my point and are way more contagious than HPV in that effect. So since sexual contact is not likely to happen at school then why make it mandatory for school attendance?

Guys I am all for women taking this vaccine if it works and has no appreciable side effects.

[General Zod]

ok, but that is part of the risk of sex these days. Other vaccinations that are required are not spread via sexual contact is my point and are way more contagious than HPV in that effect. So since sexual contact is not likely to happen at school then why make it mandatory for school attendance?

Do you actually have a reason it shouldn't be included in the list of vaccines you're supposed to have? I'm not seeing one here, and frankly if it's priced roughly the same as every other vaccine I can't see any legitimate objection to not include it.

[Spin Echo]

ok, but that is part of the risk of sex these days. Other vaccinations that are required are not spread via sexual contact is my point and are way more contagious than HPV in that effect. So since sexual contact is not likely to happen at school then why make it mandatory for school attendance?

Do you actually have a reason it shouldn't be included in the list of vaccines you're supposed to have? I'm not seeing one here, and frankly if it's priced roughly the same as every other vaccine I can't see any legitimate objection to not include it.

Vaccine load would be one reason. There area a limited number of cells that store immune information. If you give people too many vaccines, there's a risk you'll overwrite some of the early vaccines the person has received. Therefore, you'd want to optimise the vaccines you give people towards the diseases that can be spread by casual contact or are really nasty.

[Knife]

ok, but that is part of the risk of sex these days. Other vaccinations that are required are not spread via sexual contact is my point and are way more contagious than HPV in that effect. So since sexual contact is not likely to happen at school then why make it mandatory for school attendance?

Do you actually have a reason it shouldn't be included in the list of vaccines you're supposed to have? I'm not seeing one here, and frankly if it's priced roughly the same as every other vaccine I can't see any legitimate objection to not include it.

Vaccine load would be one reason. There area a limited number of cells that store immune information. If you give people too many vaccines, there's a risk you'll overwrite some of the early vaccines the person has received. Therefore, you'd want to optimise the vaccines you give people towards the diseases that can be spread by casual contact or are really nasty.

On top of the fact that the memory cells in the Cell Mediated system may die out before any appreciable exposure to the virus can be expected and thus the shot is fairly useless.

Now say if you want to make it mandatory around age 12 or so, you'd better serve the idea behind giving the HPV vaccine.

[Rogue 9]

I don't see how getting the vaccination would increase teen sexual activity anyway. How many teenagers do you seriously think decide not to have sex because they might get HPV? If I were a betting man, I'd lay good odds on it not even entering the thought process.

[General Zod]

I don't see how getting the vaccination would increase teen sexual activity anyway. How many teenagers do you seriously think decide not to have sex because they might get HPV? If I were a betting man, I'd lay good odds on it not even entering the thought process.

It's the same kind of idiotic non-reasoning that makes people think encouraging birth control will encourage sex. They figure that if you remove the supposed "consequences" of sex people will want to have it more or something.

[The Spartan]

I don't see how getting the vaccination would increase teen sexual activity anyway. How many teenagers do you seriously think decide not to have sex because they might get HPV? If I were a betting man, I'd lay good odds on it not even entering the thought process.

It's the same kind of idiotic non-reasoning that makes people think encouraging birth control will encourage sex. They figure that if you remove the supposed "consequences" of sex people will want to have it more or something.

Which is, of course, bullshit. If you had said HPV to me as a teenager I probably would have had no idea what the hell you were talking about. And then blown off any concern since I'd wear a condom.

[Death from the Sea]

ok, but that is part of the risk of sex these days. Other vaccinations that are required are not spread via sexual contact is my point and are way more contagious than HPV in that effect. So since sexual contact is not likely to happen at school then why make it mandatory for school attendance?

Do you actually have a reason it shouldn't be included in the list of vaccines you're supposed to have? I'm not seeing one here, and frankly if it's priced roughly the same as every other vaccine I can't see any legitimate objection to not include it.

the reason for mandatory vaccines is so that the disease is not spread like wildfire my mere contact at school, HPV doesn't really fall into the same category.

[General Zod]

the reason for mandatory vaccines is so that the disease is not spread like wildfire my mere contact at school, HPV doesn't really fall into the same category.

Not a very good argument against it. About 100 people (assuming the figure is accurate) become infected with Tetanus each year, and as far as I'm aware it's not horribly communicable, but vaccination is still mandatory for it.

[Spin Echo]

the reason for mandatory vaccines is so that the disease is not spread like wildfire my mere contact at school, HPV doesn't really fall into the same category.

Not a very good argument against it. About 100 people (assuming the figure is accurate) become infected with Tetanus each year, and as far as I'm aware it's not horribly communicable, but vaccination is still mandatory for it.

That's about a 100 people per year in the US, where the vaccination is mandatory. It infects closer to a million world wide, mostly in third world nations, and kills about half those. If we didn't vaccinate, the firs world numbers would surely be higher.

[Death from the Sea]

the reason for mandatory vaccines is so that the disease is not spread like wildfire my mere contact at school, HPV doesn't really fall into the same category.

Not a very good argument against it. About 100 people (assuming the figure is accurate) become infected with Tetanus each year, and as far as I'm aware it's not horribly communicable, but vaccination is still mandatory for it.

maybe not from person to person but it is from a variety of other objects and that is the reason for the vaccination.

[General Zod]

maybe not from person to person but it is from a variety of other objects and that is the reason for the vaccination.

How about this? If a disease has a sufficiently high infection rate regardless of its communicability and it's easily preventable, it needs to be innoculated against. According to this, the rate is 8/100,000 patients. Not necessarily much by itself per se, but high enough that something as simple as vaccinations would be useful in stamping it out.

[Death from the Sea]

maybe not from person to person but it is from a variety of other objects and that is the reason for the vaccination.

How about this? If a disease has a sufficiently high infection rate regardless of its communicability and it's easily preventable, it needs to be innoculated against. According to this, the rate is 8/100,000 patients. Not necessarily much by itself per se, but high enough that something as simple as vaccinations would be useful in stamping it out.

I don't disagree that getting vaccinated is better than not. I am just seeing it hard to make mandatory due to the nature of it.

[The Grim Squeaker]

the reason for mandatory vaccines is so that the disease is not spread like wildfire my mere contact at school, HPV doesn't really fall into the same category.

Not a very good argument against it. About 100 people (assuming the figure is accurate) become infected with Tetanus each year, and as far as I'm aware it's not horribly communicable, but vaccination is still mandatory for it.

That's about a 100 people per year in the US, where the vaccination is mandatory. It infects closer to a million world wide, mostly in third world nations, and kills about half those. If we didn't vaccinate, the firs world numbers would surely be higher.

Especially since the transmission vector (metal cuts, animal bites) while not horribly common, is still common enough regardless of sanitary conditions (unlike, say, malaria), and it's apparently a rather horrible way to die.
And as someone who had an allergy to a vaccination, and had treatment for over a year due to it, my opinion of anti-vaccination dolts can be summed up in a very large explecitive.

[Justforfun000]

As much as I TRULY detest the religious idiots who unconscionably prevent their kids from receiving said vaccine, free mind you, I'm with some of the others on this. I think it's a rough one to push as mandatory for school attendance. It's a little too indirect and vague on sickness and infection levels.


Believe me, I wish they would make it mandatory for all young girls REGARDLESS...I think it'd be better then using school attendance as the weapon. I wish they'd hurry up and see if vaccinating males was helpful as well..

[The Grim Squeaker]

Clarification: I had the vaccination despite my allwergy, the treatment was due to the side-effects of my allergy to the vaccination.