Q: I have a 12-year-old daughter. At the end of a routine office visit to her pediatrician last week, the doctor talked to me about giving her a vaccine that has supposedly been shown recently to completely prevent cervical cancer, but I told the doctor that I would have to think about it.
Several of my friends have daughters in this same age range, have apparently received similar recommendations and have been reluctant to do it, for various reasons, but mainly because they don’t think it has been studied enough to make sure there are no adverse effects. Is there any recent data to support giving this vaccine?
A: The vaccine your doctor referred to is called Gardasil, and it causes the body to make antibodies against human papillomavirus (HPV), several subtypes of which have been shown to be the root cause of essentially all eight different types of cervical cancer in women.
The protection only works if the vaccine is given before the onset of sexual activity, hence the recommendation that it be started at ages 12-13 years. A full course consists of three injections, with the second given two months after the first and the third given six months after the first. Cervical cancer is now the most common cancer in women between the ages of 25 and 35.
An article from Scotland describing a thorough study of this vaccine’s results, including any potential side/adverse effects, was published recently in the prestigious Journal of the United States National Cancer Institute.
Thousands of young women who received the HPV vaccine course when they were 1213 years of age were carefully screened for the precursors of cervical cancer (the presence of microscopic changes in cells of the uterine cervix, caused by the HPV virus). The number of women found positive for these changes was precisely zero, with absolutely no evidence of adverse effects from the vaccine. As a result, since males are a source of HPV as well, the Scottish health authorities rather promptly made the vaccine a standard recommendation for every girl and boy in this age range.
Most insurances in this country now cover it, for girls and boys, in the same way they cover vaccines against measles (both kinds), mumps and polio. When my young patients’ parents ask me why it is important to have this vaccine given to their children, I point out to them that this is one of those rare opportunities to do for them the biggest favor any parent can do, which is help prevent them from being maimed or killed in the future by a completely avoidable cancer.
Both of my daughters have received this vaccine, as have the daughters of all of my siblings.
I want to thank Sara B. for this important question. To learn more about this and many other health topics, visit the American Academy of Family Physicians’ website, familydoctor.org, where you can search for your topic of interest.
If you have any particular topic you would like to hear more about, please message me at paulmdake@ gmail.com.
Dr. Paul Dake, a Newberry native, is a retired family physician. He lives in Pinconning, Michigan.
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This is one of those rare opportunities to do for them the biggest favor any parent can do, which is to help prevent them from being maimed or killed in the future by a completely avoidable cancer.
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