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Schools

School officials provide parents pros and cons of controversial HPV vaccine

By ELISABETH DYER
Published April 13, 2007

It's time for the talk.

Yeah, that talk.

It's awkward, I know. But we need to talk about genital warts and cervical cancer and why your daughters - as young as 9 - need to know about a vaccine that could save their lives.

Good chance they've seen the commercial with girls jumping rope and chanting: "I want to be one less."

That's one less girl to get genital human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV. It's the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. So common that by age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have had it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last week at Wilson Middle School, parents came to learn more about HPV from Dr. Douglas Holt, director of the Hillsborough County Health Department.

HPV can cause genital warts. It can cause cancer. Or you can have no symptoms and fight the infection off, never knowing you had it, Holt said. The vaccine protects against four of the 30 strains of HPV. A federal advisory panel recommends the vaccine for girls 11 to 12, before they have their first sexual interaction, which is reportedly 24 percent of girls by age 15.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine for females ages 9 to 26.

Parents asked about side effects and the possibility that the vaccine, being so new, could have unknown complications.

"There's no 100 percent guarantee," Holt said.

The only known complication is a possible sore arm, and perhaps a dent in your bank account. At $120 a shot, it's rather pricey, he said. Three are required with most likely a booster later.

One mom asked whether condoms would prevent HPV.

Not a safe bet, Holt said, because condoms don't cover all the area of contact.

Another asked whether girls would interpret the vaccine as a green light to have sex. Holt said he didn't think fear of HPV was stopping girls from having sex anyway.

One of two young girls at the event asked whether the vaccination would stop genital warts from returning. Holt said the vaccination would not cure warts.

He also said parents could definitely choose to wait until their daughters are older than 12, but waiting increases the chances of contracting the virus because girls may become sexually active without giving their parents a heads up.

That option doesn't exist for girls in Virginia. Earlier this month, the state passed a mandate to vaccinate middle school-aged girls.

A bill to make the vaccine mandatory for Florida middle school girls stalled in the House last month.

What my 18-year-old daughter wanted to know is why the onus is on girls.

It appears studies are ongoing for a boys vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site. But because girls are more likely to develop cancer from HPV, this vaccine targets them.

My daughter says the idea of getting three shots scares her; she's not sure she'll do it.

But if this vaccine were required with mandatory boosters for girls entering seventh grade, she wouldn't have complained.

And neither would I.

HPV vaccine by the numbers

30 number of HPV strains

4 number of HPV strains the vaccine protects 11 to 12 the age a federal advisory panel recommends for girls to be vaccinated.

15 age reportedly when 24 percent of girls will have their first sexual interaction

9 to 26 ages for females the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine

80 percent of women that will have had HPV by the age of 50

[Last modified April 12, 2007, 07:58:10]