Gardasil Vaccine For Your Girl?

LilSugar — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:00:00 -0700

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) has become so widespread that there are doctors who compare it to the common cold. While some forms cause cervical cancer, others result in genital warts. According to the American Cancer Society:

In the United States, over 6 million people (men and women) get an HPV infection every year. Almost half of the infections are in people between 15 and 25 years of age. About one-half to three-fourths of the people who have ever had sex will have HPV at some time in their life.

To see what the ACS recommends, read more.
Though the only way to prevent HPV is abstinence, a vaccine prevents some forms that cause cervical cancer. So, the ACS recommends that to be most effective, the vaccine should be given to females before they are sexually active and in a series of 3 doses within 6 months starting with girls as young as nine-years-old.

Would you let your girl get the vaccine?

Source

Would You Have Your Son Get the HPV Vaccine?

LilSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Lots of mothers have given permission for their daughters to get the Gardasil vaccine, but it may soon be available for their sons. The human papillomavirus (HPV) has become so widespread that many pediatricians are administering the preventative shots (given in three doses within six months) to their patients. According to one report:

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted Wednesday to recommend that the vaccine be made available to boys and young men aged 9 to 26 for protection against genital warts caused by HPV.

The vaccine protects against four types of HPV, and two of those are believed to be responsible for 70 percent of cervical and anal cancers, and HPV-associated penile and throat-and-neck cancers. The other two cause 90 percent of genital warts cases, researchers say.

Would get your son vaccinated?