My children and I are fully vaccinated. However, not all vaccines are created equal.

[pnwmom]

Just like not all medications are created equal.

Serious questions have been raised about the long-term safety of the HPV vaccines in females. Now data is available that wasn't available to the FDA when it approved the vaccine. To make matters worse, the need for the vaccine among females was never that clear, since the pap smear is still required (because not all strains of the virus are covered by the vaccine). The pap smear catches dysplasia so early that it had almost eliminated progression to cervical cancer -- BEFORE the vaccine became available.

This report from a peer-reviewed journal of public health would make me think twice before having a daughter vaccinated with the HPV vaccine. I would want to see conclusive results that the vaccine was not causing a decrease in female fertility.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15287394.2018.1477640?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=uteh20&&fbclid=IwAR2LWeYDjw0AiQ9b5cCrHuqW4JuoxkgZV38TFV03fWw-ZhL5ejRfUM1B5ps

Birth rates in the United States have recently fallen. Birth rates per 1000 females aged 25–29 fell from 118 in 2007 to 105 in 2015. One factor may involve the vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV). Shortly after the vaccine was licensed, several reports of recipients experiencing primary ovarian failure emerged. This study analyzed information gathered in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which represented 8 million 25-to-29-year-old women residing in the United States between 2007 and 2014. Approximately 60% of women who did not receive the HPV vaccine had been pregnant at least once, whereas only 35% of women who were exposed to the vaccine had conceived. For married women, 75% who did not receive the shot were found to conceive, while only 50% who received the vaccine had ever been pregnant. Using logistic regression to analyze the data, the probability of having been pregnant was estimated for females who received an HPV vaccine compared with females who did not receive the shot. Results suggest that females who received the HPV shot were less likely to have ever been pregnant than women in the same age group who did not receive the shot. If 100% of females in this study had received the HPV vaccine, data suggest the number of women having ever conceived would have fallen by 2 million. Further study into the influence of HPV vaccine on fertility is thus warranted.

NOTE: Other studies have not found an association between the HPV vaccine and primary ovarian failure. With conflicting studies, further research is warranted.

[demigoddess]

1. agree, and I am not surprised.

[still_one]

2. As far as I can see this is a retrospective study. The gold standard is a double blind study. One

thing for sure though, there is an association between HPV and ovarian cancer.

[pnwmom]

3. The problem with a double blind study is most of them don't get carried out over the long period

of time you'd need to make sure there weren't affects on fertility ten or twenty years after childhood vaccination.

YES there is a clear association between the virus and ovarian cancer. But the pap smear was already being successfully used to find the virus-caused dysplasias before they turned into cancer. And the pap smear can identify dysplasias caused by strains of the virus not covered by the vaccines.

There is now also an HPV test (as opposed to the vaccine) that can be done along with a pap smear.

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/infectious-agents/hpv/hpv-and-hpv-testing.html

A Pap test is used to find cell changes or abnormal cells in the cervix. (These abnormal cells may be pre-cancer or cancer, but they may also be other things, too.) Cells are lightly scraped or brushed off the cervix. They are sent to a lab and looked at under a microscope to see if the cells are normal or if changes can be seen. The Pap test is a very good test for finding cancer cells and cells that might become cancer.

HPV is a virus that can cause cervix cell changes. The HPV test checks for the virus, not cell changes. The test can be done at the same time as the Pap test, with the same swab or a second swab. You won’t notice a difference in your exam if you have both tests. A Pap test plus an HPV test (called co-testing) is the preferred way to find early cervical cancers or pre-cancers in women 30 and older.

[still_one]

9. The reason a person should still have regular pap smears as I understand is because the vaccine

doesn't protect against all forms of cervical cancer as you pointed out.

My daughter received the vaccine series when she was younger, and I personally feel it was a good decision.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Well, as a 10 year survivor of HPV caused, Stage IV

cancer, I absolutely believe young people should be vaccinated. Incidents of HPV oral cancer are rising astronomically...now causing 70% of all throat and mouth cancers. As younger people now participate in oral sex as a substitute for intercourse, the number is expected to continue going up.

In case you don't know, treatment for oral cancers is among the most brutal of treatments. People may lose their ability to speak and/or eat. They lose their teeth, have blisters in their throat, and have their jaw bones disintegrate. And they die as it spreads. I have lost 2 of my support group members since February.

Either vaccine or make sure your kids don't ever have oral sex.

[pnwmom]

5. Thank you for sharing your story, which is important.

That must have been a frightening experience and I'm so glad you survived it.

There is another alternative besides vaccinating -- or in addition to vaccinating. It's to make sure people know about protection for oral sex just like they know about condoms for intercourse. And the HPV virus isn't the only thing that will be protected against -- so will herpes, HIV, and other infections.

http://www.pamf.org/teen/sex/std/oral/

[Ms. Toad]

6. Doesn't surprise me. This vaccine moved through pretty fast,

with a big push to make it mandatory very soon after its introduction.

My daughter waited until she was considering becomng sexually active (late teens), rather than the pre-teen age that was recommended.

[pnwmom]

7. I remember that. There was some Texas governor who tried to make it mandatory

when it had been on the market for less than 6 months. (I seem to recall some drug company connection.)

[mopinko]

8. i saw this, and find it odiferous.

it seems to me to be a mere statistical hypothetical w zero stats, or any correlative studies. let alone any possible mechanism of action.

fine, some cervical cancers would still slip through, and pap smears will still be useful.
meanwhile, most strains die out for lack of a vector, and the death toll falls.

ridiculous bs.

[brooklynite]

10. I don't see how you equate "safety" with "lower change of pregnancy".

[pnwmom]

11. If it happened to be causing ovarian failure in young women, then it wouldn't be safe.

But the jury's still out. More research is needed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4528880/

https://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2019/03/08/bmjebm-2018-111122