Dr. Carrie Jones: The HPV Vaccine - What Do You Need To Know?
By now, most everyone has seen the commercials on television about the most common HPV vaccine called Gardasil. HPV stands for the Human Papillomavirus and is responsible for both genital warts and abnormal changes on your pap test including cervical cancer.
Even though there are hundreds of different strains, HPV-16 and HPV-18 account for 70% of cervical cancer while HPV-6 and HPV-11 cause 90% of genital warts. Therefore, these four strains are the basis for Gardasil’s protection.
The vaccine is not a live-virus but a “virus-like” particle that will still stimulate a woman’s immunity against these four strains of HPV. The company, Merk, reports girls between 9 and 26 years old can receive it. Lately, there are reports that women up to 45 years old are also seeing benefits.
The vaccine does not protect everyone – especially if you already have these most common strains of HPV or if you have a different, less common strain. Also, it is not meant as a treatment should you acquire genital warts or an abnormal pap. Currently, the vaccine is not recommended for pregnant women and is still being studied on men.
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I work at the Medicine Shoppe and our pharmacists recommended that girls between 11 and 12 years of age receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. It’s given as a series of three shots over the course of six months. Also, it’s highly recommended for girls between 13 and 18 years old if they have not yet been vaccinated. The good news is that older adult women are also seeing benefits from the vaccine. For more information about Gardasil ask your local pharmacist.
There are also a lot of women, however, who have had issues with guardasil. A few girls have even been paralyzed by it.
I understand that when a new vaccine comes out people want the public to know about it -- but it seems really suspicious the way everyone is really pushing this drug. When I went to the doctor to get shots for living on-campus at college, my doctor nearly had a fit because I told her I did not want the shot. She almost refused to see me.
What is Guardasil hiding that they can't report more of the cases where it doesn't work?
One good friend of mine was paralyzed from it for nearly a year- she was told she would never run again, but thankfully after a year and a half of diligent physical therapy and an amazing amount of determination, she's back on her feet.
My best friend, however, wasn't so lucky- the vaccination caused her to have severe ovarian cysts, and now she can no longer bear children. Both girls are under the age of 21.
They're pushing a vaccine that has not been tested nearly enough too far and too fast- this HPV scare is out of control.