<p>Nrdsb4–yes. Agree with everything you said.</p>
<p>There is actually a lesser incidence of shingles (herpes zoster) in people who have been vaccinated with varivax (cpox vaccine) than in people who have had wild type (“natural” cpox). So it appears to be protective not only for cpox for also for shingles. </p>
<p>Yes, deciding against a vaccine that protects against 75% of infective strains of a virus because you want to wait until there is one that protects against 100% of infective strains may not be helpful if your daughter/son gets HPV genital warts, oral or throat cancer, or cervical cancer, since they are right now protected against 0% of infective strains. </p>
<p>However, though I would disagree with waiting, I can understand why a parent would like to wait with a newish vaccine. I have many patients who are waiting. We just talk about it every checkup and when they’re ready, they’ll be ready.</p>
<p>*How long do you believe it would take a vaccine to get approved for use that would guard against those extra forms of HPV if it were both created and started undergoing clinical trials today? *</p>
<p>^^Excellent question, and I don’t claim to know the answer, but my Ob/Gyn thinks pharmaceutical companies are working on it. (As an additional data point, he also has a 12-year old daughter, and he is holding off as well. I hate those anecdotal pieces of info, but there it is.) Gardisil has certainly been profitable for Merck (although not making what they expected I think, which they blame in part on girls not getting all 3 doses), and GlaxoSmithKline has also introduced a similar vaccine. So, I think it’s coming, I just don’t know when.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to persuade anyone to wait. Just participating in the conversation.</p>
<p>Just a quick question, since so many here are knowledgeable about Gardasil.
If a woman is sexually active already, but not yet 26, should she still get the vaccine? I mean, does it make sense, or is it too late to be effective? I was just wondering, because the initial impression I got when the drug came out years ago, was that it was for girls who were not yet sexually active.</p>
<p>Mom0809 - Yes, the vaccine is still recommended, because there’s a good chance she will not already have been infected with all of the covered strains.</p>
<p>My sister has HPV. She was sexually active before the vaccine and contracted it. I don’t know details, we’re not close. </p>
<p>My mom tried to get me vaccinated some years ago but at the time it wasn’t covered.</p>
<p>Now it is covered, but in discussions with my gynecologist, she didn’t advise me to get it because of my medical and sexual history. Right now, I am sticking to her advice. If my partner and I break up, then I will reconsider. Right now, for me, the risks don’t outweigh the potential benefits.</p>
<p>As long as you are honest with yourself about your potential sexual activity and risk of STDs (e.g. being in a mutually faithful monogamous relationship with a non-infected partner is low risk), then you can come up with the most appropriate course of action for yourself.</p>
<p>That is different from parents who may not know, may not ask, or may not trust the answers from their adolescent kids about the kids’ potential sexual activity. Obviously, this can be a pretty touchy subject, particularly among socially conservative types.</p>
<p>^ I absolutely agree with everything in your post. And just to clarify: I do think most young people should get it if they are healthy. The argument that it will make girls more likely to be sexually active makes zero sense. I can’t even follow that logic TBH.</p>
<p>Just in my case, it was a little different. If circumstances were different, I would have gotten it without hesitation.</p>
<p>I would support the idea of no money for no vaccine. Will you get a full refund if you pay the first semester bill and he is not allowed on campus because he hasn’t had it? Check with the school on this before paying anything.</p>
<p>As to the HPV vaccines: My older daughter, with a host of auto-immune problems elected not to have the vaccines. She is now a virgin engaged to a virgin, so she should not be at any risk. And yes, I know her virginity status because she has to work with her gynocologist on some structural issues prior to the wedding, so let’s not get off on THAT tangent. My younger daughter, after consulting with her professors, decided to have the vaccines. She can control who she chooses to have sexual contact with, but as the daughter of a sexual assualt survivor she wanted to be protected.</p>
<p>The date on the above may read 2000, but no data is quoted past around 1986-1988. Data on DPT for instance, do not discuss the acellular pertussis component, which has been used for over twenty years. Epidemiological data using historical rates of infection while vaccines were being developed are not as helpful as are those looking at recent rates imo. </p>
<p>A lot of anti-vaccine articles are written by non-immunologists (such as the physiologist whose opinions are quoted in the article), many are not trained in the fields in which they could make any basic science/bench science assertions. Neustader is a wackjob. Many “authors” of studies (which are not true peer-reviewed studies but reviews of reviews or editorials) are parents of kids with autism. </p>
<p>No scientific arguments for or against vaccinations in the scientific arena should be based on data with a small statistical power (ie anecdotal evidence) or on data that is more than ten to fifteen years old, and certainly not on vaccines which are not even in use anymore. </p>
<p>I was not aware of the severity of bacterial meningitis until 15-20 years ago, when there was a case at my university. The death rate from bacterial meningitis (if a student contracts it) is many times higher than the death rate from measles. I have seen estimates of the death rate from meningitis that range from about 10% to a bit over 35%. The higher number may result from grouping untreated cases (which tend to be 100% fatal) together with treated cases–haven’t tracked that down. The death rate from measles is about 0.3% and now probably lower than that. The fraction of people who have bacterial meningitis and are unimpaired afterwards is roughly 66%. Impairments include neurological disorders and the loss of limbs.</p>
<p>If a parent decided not to have a child vaccinated against measles, mumps, chicken pox, and/or rubella, I could see some argument for that, although our decision was to have our child have the vaccines (except for the chicken pox vaccine, which became available too late). I had all of those diseases, pre-vaccine, as did many of the people in my age group. Based on my experiences, I think that it would be better not to have any of them (and one would avoid the risk of complications), but there might be some weighing of risks/benefits to be done. I would consider it important to keep a child who had not been vaccinated for rubella away from a woman who might be pregnant, especially early in the pregnancy. </p>
<p>On the other hand, bacterial meningitis is in a totally different category. I don’t think that anyone who had bacterial meningitis (or whose child had the disease) regards the disease lightly, even if they survived unimpaired.</p>
<p>I know of two students who died of meningitis within the last two years, one a college freshman and one a first-year medical student. Their losses were truly tragic.</p>
<p>Meningitis strikes very rapidly, and it is easy to mistake the early symptoms for something less serious.</p>
<p>Incidentally, re other vaccines: I was very glad when the acellular pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine came out. I support research for improved vaccines.</p>
<p>The other consideration with the bacterial meningitis vaccine is that college students living on campus are in a comparatively high risk group for the disease, relative to the population at large.</p>
<p>Jersey Surfer, do you really think we should make medical decisions based on an article on a commercial site that exists to peddle “natural” products? I think the typical CC’er is far more discerning. If I need to remind myself about the value of vaccines, I just recall the little girl who lived down the street from me when I was growing up–she walked with heavy metal braces because she had been struck with polio before the vaccine was available–and think about all the summers we kids were told to avoid swimming pools and movie theaters because of the risk of contracting polio. Our children were never at risk for that terrible disease because of vaccines.</p>
<p>I was going to add what was mentioned above. D1 decided she wanted it, but D2 was not interested. I will revisit it with her (guardasil) When D1 was thinking of it, it occurred to me that a sexual encounter might not be her choice and she didnt need the added stress of contracting HPV. I have a relative with it, and she has frequent issues with her pap smears and recently had a scare. I talked to young girls at work and they told me there is a large number of kids with HPV, so the chances to me seem high.
as for meningitis, it isnt an option by kids had the vaccine, and will get the booster, I am a nurse and have seen it up close, it is devastating and lethal. Perhaps the kids that had it and still contracted it were among the population that needed the booster. To me its a no brainer. If you can avoid it, and you are at risk do something about it.<br>
I dont condone swearing at your kid, but I have walked away numerous times swearing under my breath and once called my D1 the B word. Actually i said she was being a B which was true She had pushed my buttons one time to many. We are all human. Patience is different depending on the day and circumstance of our lives.</p>
<p>Our pediatrician is now recommending the gardasil vaccine for boys and both of mine got it. I also have a relative with cervical cancer, which you only get because of HPV infection, and that came into our decision making.</p>
<p>The pertussis vaccine definitely needed improving or at least a booster. I got whooping cough along with my entire family - we caught it at Thanksgiving - and were all sick for Christmas - and it is the worst scariest disease I’ve ever had. I didn’t think twice about getting my kids vaccinated. We all got sick because there was a pocket of unvaccinated kids in NH who gave it to all of us.</p>
<p>Every few years someone in our neighborhood ends up as amputees from meningitis, there was no way my kids were not getting that vaccine!</p>
<p>My family also had an exposure to Pertussis by a child who had been fully vaccinated. We took antibiotics and didn’t come down with the disease. The kids were also vaccinated. We all had a hard time tolerating the antibiotics.</p>
<p>And that is a major objection to vaccinations. They loose their effectiveness.</p>