Why the HPV vaccine is just a bad idea
Though I haven't talked about it a whole lot (yet), I'm not really a fan of vaccinations. Tonight I read something that I just felt I needed to pass on. Sometimes I try to be all nicey-nice and not just say what I really think, but here's what I was thinking tonight as I was reading this article:
The HPV vaccine (intended to prevent cervical cancer and aimed at teens and young women) is not only worthless, but it is extremely dangerous! Avoid it like the plague! Please!
Phew… that felt good. I'm so glad I got it out. I've been thinking it for quite some time.
Although this article comes from a source that I'm not particularly thrilled with these days (oh, don't get me started on why… negativity, extremism, constantly trying to sell me his extremely expensive products, frou-frou emotional healing techniques that ignore our need for Christ… as I said, don't get me started), I felt it had enough worthwhile information to want to link to it. Please, spare yourself and avoid the comments below the article (if you start reading them, you'll see why).
Yes, I have heard that as well. I also heard that we should just teach those girls to abstain from sexual contact.
As for vaccines…I am so torn right now. My daughter, who is 5, will be starting kindergarten week after next. We, of course, got the form saying to give the school the form from the Dr with her vaccines. Here’s the thing, she had all her vaccines as a baby. But then in the past year I started getting concerned about the whole vaccine thing. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do the rest of them. But now with school starting, I feel like just having her get them rather than deal with the whole hassle of trying to be exempt. I did think about doing them only two at a time though. but wonder if that will be a worse “experience” for my daughter. It might be better for her body, but doing the shots two or three different appts. hhhmmm.
So, any thoughts? Also, being that she already had her shots as a baby and didn’t have reactions, what would be the potential risks for having these boosters? Is she out of the woods since she didn’t react the first time?
Thanks so much!!!
The HPV vaccine has outraged me from the very beginning. Although, like you, I avoid confrontation and don’t usually feel free to express my opinion. So thank you for expressing yours. We just moved from Texas where the governor was trying to make it a required vaccine for young girls. I was and am completely outraged by that.
First, let me say my comments aren’t meant to be confrontational :o) No, honestly! I 100% completely and totally agree that it is for each family to decide for themselves. However…
I am almost 28 years old. When my mother was my age, she gave birth to me and hemorrhaged so badly she required a transfusion and my father was told to say goodbye. Tests following the emergency put the cause of her bleeding down to cervical cancer.
When I was four weeks old, my mother had a radical hysterectomy. When I got old enough to understand, I remember her telling me that back in those days (1979/1980) the doctors had a motto – “Take it out, THEN talk it out.”…meaning they basically told her she was about to lose her uterus and fallopian tubes en route to theatre.
I spent much of my first 6mo of life in and out of hospital with Mum. She couldn’t breastfeed me due to the cancer medication but my father (apparently!) wasn’t doing too great at home with three older siblings to care for as well, so I got to bunk in with Mum whenever she attended for tests or treatment. She eventually went into remission.
My mother was EXCEEDINGLY lucky. She had not had a pap smear for several years – back then there wasn’t anywhere near the media push to do so – and the doctor told her she was lucky the ‘surprise baby’ (me) came along when I did because given her track record with pap smears, her cancer would have been missed altogether until it was too late to treat.
Consequently, once I reached the age where all of this began to make sense, my mother was direct and honest about her experience with me – she believed (as do I) that there was probably a genetic component somewhere in there, much the same as breast cancer (although, granted, the genetic link with breast cancer has been far more studied), and that both my sister and I were at higher risk. The recommended wait between smear tests is 2yrs down here – I go yearly. (Overkill? Perhaps. But I’d still rather be cautious than flippant)
What does all this have to do with Gardasil? Clearly, I am biased, and support anything that reduces the incidence of cervical cancer. It was released the year I turned 25 and down here (Australia) it was available to teen girls through the school system (or privately, if they preferred) but they also made it available for women up to the age of 25. I seriously considered it but by the time I’d decided to go ahead, I’d turned 25 and was no longer eligible (the general gist of the age limit was I guess due to over-25s being more sexually experienced).
Would I give it to my daughter when she hits high school in 6 years time? Probably. But I would still – like with any vaccination – do my research. There’s a lot of bad information out there, on both sides of the fence. If a shot will increase the protection to my daughter from a (possible) genetic link to a disease that could kill her – well, that option is very tempting, KWIM? I can raise her to be modest and chaste but ultimately, arriving on the marriage doorstep a virgin will still not completely protect her – if her husband is more experienced, then the risk could still be there.
As a postscript, and by way of explanation – I have only recently come to faith. Though I was not, uh, ‘inexperienced’ when DH and I eventually married, I was, at least, experienced only with him. My views these days are very different from what they were when we first met but I still cannot fault either myself or my husband, who had had other girlfriends before me. There’s no blame there. I could not have reasonably expected a 19yo young non-Christian man to have been a virgin. Of course, I will be approaching these kinds of things differently with my own daughter and I do expect her to choose her future husband wisely, but in the meantime, I can only go by my own family history of cervical cancer and of course, that colours my perspective on Gardasil.
Please understand that my words here today are not meant to ‘stir the pot’, LOL. I genuinely support all the decisions us gals have made. I just feel as though it is important to have a balanced viewpoint. If you look hard enough, you will always find a website, or a book, or a doctor spouting the negatives of any medicine on the shelf. Even aspirin needs to be taken cautiously. But in the case of heart disease patients, an aspirin can also serve an important purpose – and I believe that Gardasil, *thoroughly researched by EACH INDIVIDUAL* and not blindly taken because it’s the ‘vaccine de jour’ also fits into this category. I believe it can save lives, especially in higher risk groups like myself.
Remember – I support everyone’s opinions, even if they differ from mine! Honestly! Please don’t all yell at once! LOL.
Cheers,
Lizzie (and sorry for the long post)
My doc tried to pressure me to do it. Both the nurse and the ob/gyn! I finally told them to give me the brochure and I’d think about it. And tossed the brochure as I left the office! They even tried to tell me that even though I’ve only been with my husband and him with me, that things happen and he may have either lied about being a virgin or will lie later and have an affair.
Umm, ridiculousness!
I too have read Mercola’s article (and yes he’s gotten a bit nuts) and had my own tidbit of a post planned for later. 🙂 I just think that people need to know it’s not all the big pharmaceuticals make it up to be.
For good vaccine info (like how they make a certain vaccine, what it’s really for. etc.) check out Dr. Sears Vaccine Book. I don’t agree with all the vaccines he does (like HPV! or his parenting philosophies in his other books) but it is a great when trying to decide on all the dozens of shots they push on infants.
Amen! I denied the vaccine for my girls at their past physicals. Fortunately, my drs are very good and respect my wishes without too much of a problem.
I am amazed at how much they are pushing this vaccine though. I wonder what the drug company kickbacks are? Hmm
This vaccine makes me furious! I can’t even think about it without feeling my bloodpressure rise.
The way these things are marketed is so deceptive and I hope that those of us with a concern for our girls will help educate those who just run with the herd. God has asked us to be good stewards of these girls – please let’s research and pray about ALL medical decisions!
Thanks for posting this, Stephanie – especially in a PRO-vaccine world!
Andra
Jill, my basic thought is that although she didn’t “react” (not obviously or outwardly, anyways) to the shots, I would suggest that you do your own research into the issue of vaccines before deciding. It’s not just for fear of a strong reaction, but also exposure to other substances, possible immune system or neurological damage (that may not be evident), etc.
Here are a few book title worth looking into: The Vaccine Book (Sears), The Vaccine Guide (Neustaedter), Vaccinations: A thoughtful parent’s guide… (Romm), What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations (Cave & Mitchell). I would never dare to advise you on something so serious, but please do look into it more so that you and your husband can make an informed decision together. 🙂
Lizzie, thanks for sharing your story. I’m so sorry for what your family went through. I can understand your concern for your own future and the risk of cervical cancer because of your family history. The thing about Gardasil is that unlike some of the other vaccinations, you don’t have to look very far at all to find information that suggests it is not only doing it’s job of not protecting young women (as it claims to), but it is also causing serious harm. I completely agree with you that each person and family must do their own research to make the best decision that they can. Thanks for the comment!
Stepanie, exactly! You’ve got to know there’s huge money behind this thing when they’re pushing it as they are!
The gardasil vaccine has frustrated me since I first heard of it–especially since it’s marketed to young girls. Research shows that 99% of cervical cancer is caused by HPV–which is a sexually transmitted disease. If you watch the tv ads, it’s all about women’s empowerment. In essencce, they’re communicating the message of “you can do what you want as a strong woman. Get this vaccine and you won’t get the consequences of premarital sex.” I really think that this vaccine sends a dangerous message to girls–making them think that they will be safer if they have premarital sex. But that is not the case at all. If you are not promiscuous, you will not get it. Abstainence is the only sure fire way to stay safe. And it puts parents in a bind, too, because it makes us look like the “bad guys” that don’t love our daughters enough to get them vaccinated. But really, is it too much to teach our daughters to remain pure before marriage instead? Our society is always trying to find a way around God’s laws and it will never work.
Thank you for this post! I completely agree with you about this vaccine! I am pregnant with my first baby and have not yet decided quite where I stand on all the other recommended vaccines, but I know for sure that my child will not be getting this one.
Another reason that the vaccine is a bad idea that hasn’t been mentioned in the comments yet: The best line of defense against cervical cancer, whether a girl has been vaccinated or not, is frequent PAP smears which can detect a problem at a very early and treatable stage- in most cases before it even becomes cancerous. There are also many other factors that contribute to the risk of cervical cancer besides the HPV virus for which the vaccine does nothing. I worry that girls who think that they are completely protected by the vaccine will forgo annual PAP smear tests out of a false sense of security. If that were to happen, the vaccine could potentially harm many more women than the small percentage it might save. Something to think about anyways.
As a married woman who has had one sexual partner: my husband, I strongly must disagree with your view. I have had yearly pap smears as part of maintaining my insurance coverage. Three months after my wedding night I was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical dysplasia (abnormal cells, beginning stages before cervical cancer sets in). My own doctor explained that this HPV is rapidly changing and spreading. There are new strains developing. It is in our very genetic material, passed through the generations. Women do not always have the luxury of knowing our husband’s sexual history and past. In an imperfect world (the one we live in) things happen. This vaccine can save a woman some of the terrible procedures I endured. Praise be to God that my fertility remained intact and I have two healthy beautiful children. The vaccine came out one year after my LEEP coninization procedure. It is true that not all strains can be protected against, but when you are dealing with a virus that adapts, and young women can be protected from many strains of it- I think it is a good idea. That being said it needs to be something each family takes to the Lord in prayer, as you have to make an honoring decision.
Hello,
I just wanted to point out that your strong opinions are coming from information in articles you found on the internet, where anyone can write anything and not be called on it. I would strongly advise you to talk to a healthcare professional, someone with real education in the area of cancer or immunology, before making any decisions or trying to influence anyone else. What do you know about the person who wrote the article? Do they have any scientific credentials at all? I know that if you do a search of primary research on HPV vaccination you won’t find anything to support the article’s claims. It can be difficult to separate facts from fallacies if you don’t have a health or academic background, so again, please talk with someone who’s an expert in the area if you have questions, and take anything you read online with a grain of salt.