Introduction
Hi girls! I have chosen
this article about HPV vaccine because I find really interesting this theme and
I think there are so many girls that they aren't vaccinated because it is a
"new" vaccine unknown for more of us and maybe we should know more
about it.
Like future doctors, I
think it is important that we inform our patients about importance of cervical
screening, HPV vaccine and sex with protection.
I hope you like it and
you can learn something new about this theme.
Cervical cancer vaccine
All
girls aged 12 to 13 are offered HPV (human papilloma
virus) vaccination as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme. The
vaccine protects against cervical
cancer. It's usually given to girls in year eight at
schools in England.
The HPV
vaccine is delivered largely through secondary schools, and consists
of two injections into the upper arm spaced at least six, and not
more than 24 months apart (girls who began vaccination before September 2014
receive three injections).
Research
has indicated that the HPV vaccine protects against cervical
cancer for at least 20 years.
What is HPV?
The
human papilloma virus (HPV) is the name given to a family of viruses.
Different
types of HPV are classed as either high risk or low risk, depending on the
conditions they can cause. For instance, some types of HPV can cause warts or verrucas.
Other types are associated with cervical cancer.
In
99% of cases, cervical cancer occurs as a result of a history of infection with
high-risk types of HPV. Often, infection with the HPV causes no
symptoms.
How is HPV infection spread?
The
HPV virus is very common and is easily spread by sexual activity.
As much
as half the population will be infected at some time in their life. In most
cases, the virus doesn't do any harm because your immune system gets rid of the
infection. But in some cases, the infection persists and can lead to health
problems.
Although
most girls don't start having sex until after they're 16 years of age,
it's important that they get this protection early enough and a good time is in
the early teenage years – getting the vaccine as early as possible will
protect them in the future.
Using
a condom during sex can help to prevent HPV infection. However, as condoms do
not cover the entire genital area and are often put on after sexual contact has
begun, a condom is no guarantee against the spread of HPV.
How the HPV vaccine helps
A vaccine
called Gardasil is
used in the national NHS cervical cancer vaccination programme. Gardasil
protects against the two types of HPV, between them responsible for more
than 70% of cervical cancers in the UK.
A bonus
of using Gardasil to prevent cervical cancer is that it prevents genital warts
too.
Which girls should have the HPV vaccination?
The
HPV vaccine is part of the NHS
childhood vaccination programme and is routinely offered
to secondary school girls aged 12 and 13.
It's
a safe vaccine and there are very few girls who aren't suitable for HPV
vaccination. However, special precautions may need to be taken if
the girl being vaccinated has certain health conditions, or has ever
had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis).
The
HPV vaccine is currently given as a series of two injections within a six- to
24-month period.
Girls
who began their course of HPV vaccination before September 2014 receive
three injections.
Can girls who missed HPV vaccination still have it?
Yes,
if a girl misses either of her vaccinations, for whatever reason, speak to her
nurse or doctor about making another appointment, ideally as close as possible
to the original one.
Girls
can have the HPV vaccination on the NHS up to age of 18.
Girls
who have the HPV vaccination after the age of 15 will need three doses as the
response to two doses is not so good in older girls.
Cervical screening and the HPV vaccine
Cervical
screening is a way of picking up abnormal cells in
the cervix before they progress to cancer. It's been shown that early detection
and treatment of cervical abnormalities picked up by screening can prevent
three-quarters of cervical cancers.
The
NHS cervical screening programme involves checking women between the ages of 25
and 64 every three to five years for early cervical abnormalities.
Regular
cervical screening is the best way to identify abnormal cell changes in the
cervix. So it's important that all girls who receive the HPV vaccine
also have regular cervical screening once they reach the age of 25.
- Do you find
necessary that girls are vaccinated of HPV?
- Do you
think that girls follow the cervical screening?
- Why do you think
there are so many girls that they aren't vaccinated?
CONCLUSION
We think that it's a good vaccine that it has improved, but it be
improved more because, at the moment only covers for two types of virus.
All of us agree that cervical screening is really important and it
should give more information at school and different areas about this, in order
to increase women's visits to gynaecologist for revisions.
The main cause to not choose this vaccine is the insufficient
information about disease and importance to prevent it, and about real side
effects of this vaccine, which are less than people think.
We conclude that it is important to have a safe sexual life and to
follow screening programmes.
ANDREA GARCÍA GÓMEZ
Hi Andrea! I have found your theme very interesting and I think you have chosen very good the theme because all of us are girls!
ResponderEliminarAbout you questions:
- Do you find necessary that girls are vaccinated of HPV?
Yes, I do. All that means prevention should be obligatory, especially if we talk about contagious disease because it involves everyone.
- Do you think that girls follow the cervical screening?
Unfortunately no, and it happens in all areas, in sanitary students too!
- Why do you think there are so many girls that they aren't vaccinated?
It is a mixture of mentality and disinformation. Most of our grandmothers didn’t visit the gynecologist, because didn’t have or it was so new to think it could be good. Then our mothers started to go to the gynecologist, but the majority because they wanted to pregnant. So, last generations didn’t come to gynecologist to annual revision when they were young.
For this are necessary prevention campaigns for teenagers at school.
But I’m not optimistic because most parents are very conservators and they don’t want that their daughters receive this type of information (about sexuality and prevention).
MARTA CÓRDOBA CALONGE
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarHi Andrea!
ResponderEliminarI think vaccination to HPV is important because it helps in the prevention of cervical cancer. But the problem here I think is due to the fact that the vaccine only protects against two types of HPV, although they are the most frequent.
Regarding the second question, I think that many girls don´t realize the screening. I think it might be convenient to start screening before 25, maybe 2 or 3 years after the initiation of sexual relationships. A suitable screening help to lower mortality from this type of cancer.
In my opinion, many girls are not vaccinated because it is free only for girls aged 12-13 years, so many girls were excluded and this vaccine has a relatively high cost that many families cannot afford.
Joana Gonçalves Bolinhas
Hi Andrea!
ResponderEliminarI'm not vaccinated for HPV because when I was under 18 years old my parents not proposed me that and when I wanted to be vaccinated I was too old. However, I believed that although the effect was smaller, you equally could be vaccinated and be older than 18.
I think it's important for girls to be vaccinated during adolescence because there is much promiscuity and sometimes no condom is used.
From my point of view, the girls do go to a gynaecologist for cervical screening. At least, my friends and I go there every year.
Finally, there are many girls who are not vaccinated because this had not been proposed in the NHS childhood vaccination programme, and there was less information on the subject.
Núria Climent
Hi Andrea, I found your article very interesting.
ResponderEliminarCervical cancer is the second most common woman cancer in the world, so we are dealing with a serious health problem. However, there are huge differences between countries. While this cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women (ahead even of breast cancer) in some developing countries, its incidence in richer countries like Spain is low –less than 8 cases/100.000 inhabitants/year. Then, do I think that we need to be vaccinated? Of course I do. As explained in your article, it’s a safe vaccine. The number of deaths it can prevent with very few cases of side effects makes it worthwhile. In my opinion, the point to discuss about wouldn’t be its effectiveness but the countries where this vaccine should be given. Probably, vaccination programs available don’t include precisely women with the highest risk, as their state can’t afford it.
Answering to your second question, I do think cervical screening is followed, at least in the First World. It seems to me that young women are more aware of their health and the importance of taking care of themselves, which includes gynecological revisions.
About your last question, I think that women who don’t want to be vaccinated or parents who don’t want it for their children should be explained carefully how useful the vaccination can be. From my point of view, the distrust that can cause any medical intervention in some ordinary people normally comes from the ignorance. That’s why communicating information to patients is at least as important as all the strictly medical knowledge.
Good morning Andrea!
ResponderEliminarI'm glad to be reading about HPV because as you said, it has been a popular subject and a top-matter since 2007 when the vaccine was implemented in Spain, although it's already certainly unkown nowadays by the main part of our citizen.
I mean only a few people could answer you about HPV vaccine: it efficacy, target age group and HPV vaccine in older woman, medical use and HPV vaccine in males, the diseases you may block protecting yourself from human papillomavirus infection, etc.
The reason many families decided not to vaccinate their young daughters was lack of information (I think I could include myself in this group too). That's why I would like to widen my knowledge about HPV and it infections prevention for myself, for my future daughters and especialy for my future patients.
I'd like to thank you for your article which helps me to futher my knowledge in HPV vaccine.
María Lamana Villegas.
Hi Andrea, thank you for this article, it’s very interesting.
ResponderEliminarTo answer your questions, I think it’s very important and necessary that girls are vaccinated against HPV because it insures that they are protected and it’s one way of controlling the spreading of this virus.
Concerning the second question, the girls don’t need to be screened until they are twenty-five. However, I think that women, don’t visit their gynaecologist regularly.
Finally, I feel that many girls are still unvaccinated because this vaccine is very expensive and only girls who are under eighteen are covered by the NHS.
In the case of Spain another reason for this would be the low prevalence of HPV infection.
Dunia Jové
Hi Andrea, thank you for this article, it has been quite interesting since nowadays is a very important theme in our society.
ResponderEliminarAnswering your questions, I think that everything regarding to prevention must be done, and with more reason if it´s to prevent such an important disease like this one. It is known that thanks of vaccines many diseases had reduced or even disappeared. However, there had been some news that talks about the secondary effects of this vaccine. As a result, people may be afraid of it. Also, talking about the costs, only girls between 12-13 years old can get it for free. Older girls have to pay for this vaccine and not all families can afford it. As Nisha said, here in Spain, isn´t the place where this cancer has the highest incidence; it is on developing countries where it is more important. So maybe, in these countries, vaccines without costs should be given to girls until 18 years or more, eventhough they need more doses. With this, the target of prevention may be nearest to be achieved. However, this is just one of many steps of prevention. We cannot forget about sexual education. There are several infections that we can catch if we don´t take the correct measures.
Regarding to the second question about cervical screening, I think that not all girls have done it. Maybe because they don´t find it useful or maybe they are afraid or maybe they don´t know about it. That´s why I think general practitioners should insist on this, because as well as the vaccine, this measure is also important for prevention.
Finally, I think that most girls are not vaccinated because of lack of information. Parents and teenagers should be informed about these vaccines and their advantages.
Elisa Salazar
Hi Andrea! I don't understand why my post do not appear. Anyway, this week i've been working about this topic in a project that we are planning at the university, in my opinion it's a very interesting topic and moreover, because we're women.
ResponderEliminarSome days ago, when I wrote the post that wasn't uploaded, I told you that i founded an Affected VPH Women Association on internet in which you can found all the information about the vaccine and its secondary effects. Some of them were, fatigue, headache, dizziness, loss of strength, joint pain, blurred visión...
After knowing all that, I'm not really sure if a young girl must have the vaccination because the vaccine is just working on 16 and 18 types of the virus but there are many secondary effects to that vaccine so, even I think that the vaccines can help the society not to get this illnesses I also think that before having any vaccine we must be totally persuaded that is better to have it than not.
I agree that girls should have a cervical screening but nowadays I don't think that all the teenagers, and young girls follow that cervical screening. Could be for different reasons like the teenagers are not focus on that illnesses or maybe their parents do not agree with vaccinations...
We have to remember that when the vaccine was commercialized in Spain, at first was not well-received for the society neither for the doctors which some of them appeared to the media saying that they will not vaccine their daughter. Moreover, when the vaccine appeared the girls which were not in the age, I mean, the ones who were older than 13, were not treated and just a little percent was vaccinated because of their parents insistence. Nowadays, exist a lack of information about the vaccine, their secondary effects and also which is the prevalence of that infection in Spain. I'm totally sure that if the prevalence of cervical cancer was high in Spain everybody would know about the vaccine and every girl would have the vaccine. As we all know, people most of the time just get interested in something that involves them or their family.
To sum up, thanks to let us know more about the vaccine, I like so much to talk about controversial topics where you can discuss and learn about different points of view.
Mercè
PD: I hope that the message is not removed.
Thanks girls for all your comments. I found this article really interesting and so that I decided to share with you and I cheered up when I saw your comments in which you said that you liked the article.
ResponderEliminarAnd thanks for the extra-information about HPV, prevalence of disease, side effects of this vaccine...
Kisses girls. Until other post!