Should I take the HPV vaccine?

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Like all vaccines there is a risk to it.
that is a simple fact, but it should not be used as a scare tactic. there is a risk to getting my chicken pox vaccine too, but i chose to get that since i, as an adult, had never had chicken pox.
the value and risks must be considered for EACH person, and your decision can be different than mine.
thats ok 🙂

here are some things to consider:
right now, you are probably covered under your parents insurance, and you are within the guidelines of ages for the vaccine. you are also not away from home? yes so will be able to get the multiple shots needed to make it effective.
but
the vaccine may be improved by the time you consider marriage, and the test for HPV in men (right now, not very accurate at all) may improve.

do you think having the vaccine (and knowing that NO vaccine is 100% effective) would tempt you to sinful behavior?

my opinion, and its just my opinion, is that you should get the vaccine.
just remember its failings, and the fact that you may need to get a booster or a new vaccine later…

good luck and may you find a responsible, religious, honorable future husband
 
It is a worthwhile vaccine to get. As has been posted earlier, Gardasil protects against HPV subtypes 6,11,16 and 18. 70-80% of the population have HPV in their system. Although rare, it is possible for a mother to pass HPV to her baby in utero. Nuns get cervical dysplasia, too. A bigger advantage than cancer protection is that it reduces the need for colposcopy and LEEP procedures which could potentially affect fertility.

Regarding the risk of the vaccine, not really an issue. It has been overhyped by the media. It is a safe vaccine.

Regarding the morality. I can only speak to my own, but when I got the Hepatitis B vaccine, I did not have a desire for IV drug use. Seriously, though, if you feel that it is morally incorrect to get the vaccine, then it is.

I have attached a small excerpt form the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) site:

“The CMA supports widespread use of Gardasil® for girls and women in the age range for which the vaccine has been recommended by the ACIP, because it is effective, safe, and ethical to use, provided certain conditions are met…There is no ethical objection to the HPV vaccine either as a strategy against disease or in its production. Patients and parents must have the opportunity to give informed consent to its Administration,” reads the Catholic Medical Association’s policy paper.
 
Just wanted to weigh in on this one–did a lot of research on Gardasil and many things are disturbing to say the least. Not many people realize the vaccine is only good for four years–then you have to have the three very expensive shots all over again. It also doesn’t protect you from all of the hpv strains–only the ones they think are most likely to infect you. It should greatly trouble people of sound morals that this drug company suggests little nine year girls be brought in for these shots. Remember…this is the company that brought us Vioxx. Many deaths and lawsuits later, they are trying to recoup some losses. The rate of cervical cancer deaths from women receiving annual pap smears in the United States is next to none. The side affects from this latest vaccine are unknown. My humble advice is don’t roll up your sleeve for this one!
 
Just wanted to weigh in on this one–did a lot of research on Gardasil and many things are disturbing to say the least. Not many people realize the vaccine is only good for four years–then you have to have the three very expensive shots all over again. It also doesn’t protect you from all of the hpv strains–only the ones they think are most likely to infect you. It should greatly trouble people of sound morals that this drug company suggests little nine year girls be brought in for these shots. Remember…this is the company that brought us Vioxx. Many deaths and lawsuits later, they are trying to recoup some losses. The rate of cervical cancer deaths from women receiving annual pap smears in the United States is next to none. The side affects from this latest vaccine are unknown. My humble advice is don’t roll up your sleeve for this one!
I am going to trust the Catholic medical association on this one and disagree with what you are saying.
 
I agree on some points people are making and strongly disagree with some points. This vaccine as of right now is still in its infancy stages, and its efficacy has not truly been determined. I am an RN who does homeschool, but I still get my children vaccinated due the world becoming much smaller (ie children dying in Ca from whooping cough). I have 3 daughters, and I have no plan on getting them the gardisil vac. until it has been perfected, and maybe for a wedding shower gift!! With the way sexual activity is today, I pray my children don’t partake and I will do everything humanly possibly with the Holy Spirit’s help to prevent them, but what if they marry someone who has had a past, yet has repented. I know plenty of young people who were “carefree” in their teens and 20’s and realized the error of their ways, and have grown into wonderful young people with chaste marriages. God’s mercy and love extends to ALL, and I would want my daughter protected if she does fall in love with someone who wasn’t so “pure”. Remember the many souls who repented and went on to become Saints…
My advice is to try to find a good Catholic MD (I have who definitely still believes the jury is out on the vaccine) and pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance…you will find your answer.
 
I hope the OP is still following this thread, and sees this response. The quote that follows is from one of the doctors who developed the vaccine and the link to the whole article follows. From this doctor’s admissions alone it seeme futile at best to get this vaccine. It has been promoted unethically to age groups that it was never tested in and has been linked to outbreaks of genital warts in groups of school children who received it. The vaccine is very new and long term effects are completely unknown. I find it very sad that the pharmaceutical industry makes so much money on drugs targeted at women like this and the BC pill, which is a known carcinogen. We have let ourselves be experimented on for far too long.

“Dr. Harper further undercut the case for mass vaccination campaigns in the U.S. when she pointed out that “4 out of 5 women with cervical cancer are in developing countries.” (Harper serves as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) for HPV vaccination in the developing world.) Indeed, she surprised her audience by stating that the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. is so low that “if we get the vaccine and continue PAP screening, we will not lower the rate of cervical cancer in the US.””

lifeissues.net/writers/mos/mos_159gardasilvaccine.html

Let the Spirit guide you in your decision in this and in your choice of a future husband. I personally don’t think this is an effective strategy to hedge your bets.
 
I think the argument for not getting the vaccine because it could lead for some girls to have a false sense of security is wrong. Gardasil may prevent some strands of HPV, but it does nothing against PID, syphilis, ghonnorea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis and the Big Daddy of em all HIV. “Safety net” not hardly, unless you like your safety net with huge gaping holes.
I once spoke to a friend who has a teenaged daughter and she asked what I thought about it, and I told her not to tell her that it could guard against STDs but only cervical cancer and that seemed to work for her. Maybe if they would have advertised it differently it would have been better?
 
I am almost 25 years old and I haven’t gotten the shot, nor do I plan to since I do not plan to do anything of a sexual nature until I am married. Seeing how there is no current prospect and the idea of marriage is just something to discern at the moment, I think I will even surpass the age of 26 deadline.
 
I am 17 years old and I’m not sure if I should take the HPV vaccine. I do not plan on having sex before marriage but what if my future husband has had sex before marriage, will I not catch the HPV virus from him? Thanks for your replies.
I would not advise you to take the HPV vaccine. It has bad side effects which have already been reported by several women who were vaccinated vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2009/02/gardasil-death-brain-damage-national.html

Besides this, I had heard that the vaccine only protects against a few of the HPV strains, and there are several it does not protect against.
 
If the vaccine will prevent even one case of cancer stemmed from HPV I think it would be best to get it. Talk to your doctor about the risks instead of an apologetics forum.

Before I get grilled alive for that statement let me state to my fellow mothers and daughters that we should be using faith to inspire abstinence from sex until marriage. We should not be placing our children and others at risk out of that spiteful “serves them right” attitude. Just as the Catholic church is against government enforced death penalty so we should be against the death penalty so many diseases carry with it. Time cut short in this world is time that could have been spent making right with God!
I’m speaking as a girl who fell hard from God, I contracted HPV and had to have cancerous cells removed with talk of a hysterectomy before I was even 21. I’m almost 27 now and have a wonderful husband and son and the HPV is gone after the cancer was painfully removed.
OP, please, talk with the doctor to see what risks you may be at and then make a *medical *decision. As for your spirit, God knows what is in your heart and if you aren’t using this a a crutch for premarital sex (and really why would you? There are many other diseases that the vaccine can’t protect against, as well as God’s grace in you…)
 
I am almost 25 years old and I haven’t gotten the shot, nor do I plan to since I do not plan to do anything of a sexual nature until I am married. Seeing how there is no current prospect and the idea of marriage is just something to discern at the moment, I think I will even surpass the age of 26 deadline.
The age for the vaccination series is going to be approved for women up to age 40, and soon (probably years) it will also be offered to boys- probably in the same age as for women
 
Hi,
Here in the UK every girl in year 8 (7th grade in the US) gets the HPV vaccine free on the NHS in school. We use a different type of vaccine to the one used in the US. So far, only one school has refused to allow the vaccines to take place on its premises. I recieved the vaccine and I cant see anything wrong with having it, just in case. I adivse you to get the vaccine!
 
The age for the vaccination series is going to be approved for women up to age 40, and soon (probably years) it will also be offered to boys- probably in the same age as for women
When a man gets HPV, it doesn’t really have any ill effects. He might get (basically unnoticable) warts on his privates, but nothing will come of them. In women though, it is extremely dangerous because it increases the chances of cervical cancer by a LOT. So it might be hard to get boys to get the vaccine too, because the ones that will be having sex with lots of different girls and spreading it likely aren’t the ones that are the most compassionate.
 
Was your friend raped by a stranger?
Yeah.

I don’t think I wasn’t that clear in my post. She was a virgin and was 15 when she was raped, over ten years ago. Wrong place, wrong time sort of situation. While not Catholic, she is a “no sex before marriage” Protestant and so hasn’t done anything in that regards since then. She then started having some gynae troubles a few years back and the doctor did a pap, found she had C. cancer, caused by the virus. She’s still fighting it.

The other point I made in the post was that women cannot be guarenteed that their husbands are faithful. I know quite a few women who have caught STDs thanks to their husbands having affairs or thinking that “prostitutes don’t count”.
 
Here’s my story: I was a 29 year old virgin when my boyfriend raped me and gave me HPV about a year before the vaccine became available. I thank God that the infection cleared up without developing into cervical cancer, but I would have been much better off if I could have been vaccinated. As if the trauma of being a rape victim wasn’t enough for me to deal with, I also spent about two years worrying about cancer.

A friend of mine contracted HPV from her husband, who was sexually active before he met her.

We have control over our own actions, but we can’t control those of others. I am glad that Gardisil is available to protect young women.
 
I’ve got to go along with the pro vaccine people.

I think it’s awesome that you are wanting to have your first time be with your husband. And I also think it’s great that you’re looking out for your future health.

Having said that, you never know where life is going to take you. Reported cases of sexual abuse are close to 1 in 3 women (not counting unreported cases) and you never know when you might find yourself in a situation that is beyond your control. I think that because of the frequency of these situations taking any sort of precaution to protect your health and safety is wise, especially since I don’t believe the Catholic Church has issued any public statement about this vaccine.

Also, what people are saying about the lack of reliable testing for males with HPV is quite (unfortunately) true. I have a male friend who was taken advantage of by someone close to him and is in incredible pain because of it. He’s guessing that he has HPV (based on the other person’s positive test) but he can’t get tested. Even if there was a reliable test for men, getting tested positively would result in him becoming uninsurable. I wish I could say this is an unusual case, but this is just one example of many.

Though I don’t normally recommend getting any vaccine to hit the pharmacies, for your own safety I would strongly suggest getting the vaccine.
 
Hey, do those of you “of a certain age” remember playing with mercury and lead toys when you were a kid? I remember in grade school the nun who taught us in 4th grade even had a lesson plan around the properties of mercury and we had great fun playing with it. By the time we were done there was none left because we had spilled it all over ourselves and the floor. I doubt any of us washed our hands before we held our sandwich at lunch afterward either. Now a mercury spill where I work (hospital) is practically an all out haz-mat emergency.
Were we just tougher then (tongue firmly planted in cheek)?
Yea, I remember it well. Kinda cool the way it balled up a rolled around. It explains a lot, actually. :whacky:

about me, I mean

That’s me, Maggie the Mad-hatter 😛

I would wait, only because the vaccine is fairly new. Don’t think it would be bad, but I’d rather wait a while to be sure people don’t start dropping like flies

Get it when it’s time to marry, since men cannot be tested for it, but why stress over it now? You’re so young!
 
The age for the vaccination series is going to be approved for women up to age 40, and soon (probably years) it will also be offered to boys- probably in the same age as for women
So why aren’t boy’s encouraged to get the vaccine, too. That just seems wrong to me.
 
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