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Good news for parents: the HPV vaccine is now recommended for boys as well as girls.
The new vaccine schedule released on Thursday goes beyond the tepid language of past schedules and makes the HPV vaccine a “recommended” vaccine for boys ages 11 to 12, and a catch-up vaccine for boys ages 13 to 21.
This is good news if you have a son, since the vaccine protects against genital warts and the cancer-causing virus repsonsible for many oral and anal cancers. It’s good news if you have a daughter, because protecting both boys and girls against the virus means your daughter’s eventual boyfriend is less likely to have HPV and therefore less likely to pass it to her.
A CDC panel has expanded their recommendation on the HPV vaccine to include boys. Finally.
After all the furor over giving this shot to girls, it’s great to see the CDC do the right thing and recommend it to boys as well. The virus can affect boys as well as girls, it’s only right that they also be vaccinated for it.
In case you’ve been living under a rock: the HPV vaccine protects against cancer-causing strains of the human papilloma virus. Because it’s usually sexually transmitted, some Republicans have made a big stink about the vaccine being a license for free sex.
Do your kids get shots at their Well Baby visits?
One of my colleagues over at Being Pregnant has just written a passionate post about the 5 worst myths about unvaccinated kids.
She makes the case that vaccination is a very personal decision, and one that every family should be free to make on their own. Her goal is to debunk myths like “parents who don’t vaccinate don’t really love their kids” and “your unvaccinated child will make my kid sick”.
The thing is, while a lot of her particular arguments are good, she’s missing the larger point. Vaccination isn’t just a personal decision. It’s also a public health issue.
photo credit : istockphoto.com
A new hot vaccination debate is brewing among experts. As if there aren’t enough of them already right? In recent months professionals have been looking at the controversial HPV vaccine which helps prevent the transmission of the sexually transmitted disease also known as the human papillomavirus.
HPV has also been linked to certain cervical cancers in women which is why we see the vaccine, as well as the big push to have our children vaccinated for something considered a sexually transmitted disease. Continue reading »
If new research on smallpox and its relationship with AIDS bears fruit, parents may be adding one more vaccine to the arsenal of shots their kids get. The BBC reports that the vaccine used to wipe out smallpox offered some protection against the AIDS virus. Some scientists believe its disuse since smallpox was eradicated has helped the rapid spread of AIDS.
A lot of people might look at the anti-vax folks and wonder why it matters if those folks don’t get their kids vaccinated. If their kids get sick because they aren’t protected, it’s no skin off anyone else’s nose, right? Wrong. A new study shows exactly the opposite: vaccinating kids protects the entire community.
For parents who are always worried about too many needle sticks in their kids, the FDA’s approval of a new Pfizer vaccination could be good news.
The Food and Drug Administration has put its stamp of approval on the new version of Prevnar – Prevnar 13. Continue reading »
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