HPV vaccine for Males too!
Friday, July 9, 2010 at 11:04AM Have you noticed the handful of ads that Gardasil has had, advocating that our boys/young men (ages 9-26) get vaccinated for HPV (human papillomavirus)? Well, I have. Dr. Nancy Snyderman from the Today Show spoke about the importance for our tween girls / our Gen Y girls (9-26 year old girls) having the HPV vaccine and she also spoke about how our boys should be vaccinated as well. The FDA approved the HPV vaccine for boys/young men in October of 2009.
Why do I bring this up? Because this is important! Dartmouth College did a study about the correlation of how Mom's influence played a direct role in whether or not young women/girls had the HPV vaccine. Well ladies, you need to influence your boys/young men too!
Since my children are millennials, Gen Y, 20-somethings, young adults, this post is targeted to parents of this age group. BUT if you're reading this and you have younger kids 9-12, read on! The ideal is vaccination young, before any sexual activity....I know, that's a whole other conversation and I'm not going there.
My son came home from college briefly at the beginning of the summer and he ran around going to his various appointments: dentist, doctor, hair.... I spoke to him prior to his doctor's appointment and asked that he bring up with his Internist the HPV vaccine. We had a great conversation, very open, discussed our family's values (which we've done all along the way) and he agreed that he'd ask and pursue the vaccine. He made some very thoughtful comments about getting the vaccine and how important he thought it was and preventative it could be. To him (age 20) it seemed the right thing to do. Well, he called from the doctor's office and said that his internist was happy to provide it, but honestly this was his first male patient to request it?!? Yikes! And he'd better check to be sure insurance would cover it. Double yikes! I told him I'd check, but frankly with or without insurance, we'd cover it, he said "Mom, I will." he said when he got home, that the nurses gave him a standing ovation for doing this! Imagine!
Well, that was a month ago and guess what, insurance isn't covering it....yet. I'm working on it! In the meantime, one vaccine down, two to go. This is a series of three shots. The timing is important so as you discuss this with your boys (or girls) know that they need to be around their doctor at various intervals. (According to the Gardasil website, the vaccine does not have to be administered all three times from the same doctor, just let them know what round you're on.)
There has been controversy in the news about the vaccine: youth and sex, sexual activity, side effects, all of which are things to think about, but in our household, it's clear, this is the right thing to do for all of our kids and mine are 20-26, male and female. And this vaccine was FDA approved when my eldest was older. (This vaccine was FDA approved for girls in June 2006, boys, October 2009....interesting, eh?).
Come on Moms, talk to your Gen Yers, influence your boys (/girls), this is an anti-cancer vaccine, get the information and do what's best for your family!
~Beppie
Moms of Gen Y
An update on HPV: There is a rise of throat cancer in males and it is linked to HPV. It states that we are on the edge of a pandemic. In the WSJ blog following this morning's article, it is recommended that young males should indeed get vaccinated with three doses within 6 months with Gardasil. Since I posted about this originally, it was suggested, but now it is being recommended. Do your Gen Y kids a favor, tell them to get vaccinated! They should sign up for the reminder for their second and third doses, people get busy, all three doses are essential for their protection!
Another update: October 25, 2011
The CDC now officially recommends the HPV vaccine for boys! MSNBC reports.
~Beppie
