Forum Miss Bimbo, fashion community / How do you feel about the Gardasil Vaccine? Please explain. - Gardisil is the HPV/cervical cancer vaccine.

sweetestangel wrote:

Oleanders wrote:

VickiVale wrote:

Believe me when I say that not all drugs are well-tested prior to hitting the market, and with this one being given to girls of a younger age, I'm sure extensive, long-term testing has yet to be seen. Drugs like Bextra (Valdecoxib), Celebrex (Celeba in some countries -- Celecoxib), and Vioxx (Rofecoxib), were marketed like crazy as the best possible new arthritis medication on the market. These drugs were later found to have serious side effects, Bextra (I'm not sure about Celebrex) and Vioxx were even pulled from the market because of the highly increased potential for heart attack and stroke with long-term use. Vioxx was so commonly accepted by physicians that around 80 million people held a prescription.

I myself was on Bextra for acute tendentious and was informed by my doctor that I needed to stop taking it immediately because of these risks. I was taking it at least three times a week, sometimes more. It wasn't a potential risk for just the elderly either because I was a teenager at the time.

Fun fact: MERCK, the company that was responsible for distributing and patenting Vioxx is also the same company behind Gardasil.

dont forget thalidomide or however u spell it

Oleanders -- That doesn't give me a warm, fuzzy feeling in my gut. I hope they've learned from their past mistakes with the number of people getting vaccinated.

sweetestangel -- There have been a number of medications that have been pulled from the market over the years, I just used the same family of arthritis meds as an example because of my own personal experience. Even simple over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol, which they thought was a super-safe drug for years, was later found to be hazardous in large doses.

I haven't done extensive research on thalidomide, but from what I know, pregnant women should never ever take it, but there aren't serious health consequences to the rest of the population.  There are other drugs out there that cause serious birth defects, but measures in place to try to ensure that women do not become pregnant while taking those drugs.  For instance, accutane (isotrenitonin pills) is an aggressive acne treatment, and for any girl of reproductive age to be prescribed it and stay on it, she has to have pregnancy tests every few months and practice at least two forms of birth control.

thalidomide is safe for the general population, but causes horrendous birth defects in VERY SMALL doses if given to a pregnant woman.  the problem is, it was given as treatment for nausea/vomiting.  the problem: pregnant women get morning sickness! although the birth defects were not known at the time it was being prescribed, it is very possible that women may take the drug BEFORE they know they're pregnant, and by then the damage may be done.  accutane is essentially vitamin A.  vitamin A can be toxic, particularly to fetus in utero, but the effects will not occur until after the pregnancy can be identified with the presence of hCG.  in short, accutane = ok for general use, thalidamide = shady... in my opinion

I'm going to make my answer short and sweet, as it is lol.  There hasn't been enough time to determine the long term effects of this "vaccine" on the young women that are getting it, first of all.  Second of all, many teens that are going to enevitably end up sexually active are going to take this as one more reason why they think they are "safe" instead of always.... every single time.... using safe sex.  Not to mention the fact that it is also going to give a lot of parents an excuse not to talk to their children about safe sex because they are going to feel that they are safe if they get the vaccine, even though they aren't.  Those are going to be the parents who are already on the line about speaking to their kids about things like safe sex, drugs, drinking, etc.  And it's just going to give the schools another reason to feel that they don't have to get tough about safe sex and abstinence.  This "vaccine" wouldn't even be needed if all parents would teach their children to be safe and responsible.  Before I was ever with my husband physically, I got a full STD work up (including an AIDS test) because lets face it... I hadn't always been responsible.  But if I was sick with something because of that, I was not going to let my husband pay for it.  People do not feel that they need to get tested on a normal basis, and if they did, half the STD's in this world probably wouldn't get passed on, and if they can be cured, would be.  If I do have a living daughter, she will not be allowed to get this shot.  If it is made mandatory, I will file whatever form needs to be filed so that my daughter still will not be able to get a shot (personal or religious beliefs usually).  I just think this vaccine gives people more of a chance to be yet even more irresponsible.  Just my 2 cents though

Shirl

k333ly wrote:

herpes can cause cervical cancer too.

And more people are born with herpes than they know.  Most "cold sores" that people get are actually fever blisters, and those are caused by the herpes simplex virus.  Mothers who have it pass it down to their unborn children.  There isn't a cure or vaccine, but that is a different type of herpes than genital herpes.

Shirl

I agree with so much of what has been sad, both for and against this vaccine.  I think that the vaccine should probaby be given once a girl is at least 12 as you could speak to her and explain exactly what the vaccine is for and give her the choice to say if she didn't want it.

Personally if I had a daughter and the vaccine was offered I would want her to have it.  It's not a complete cure against getting cervical cancer and doesn't prevent you against all strains of hpv, but surely having some protection is better than none.  I would want to keep my daughter as safe and healthy as possible and so would definately want the vaccine.

I don't think it's a good idea, I don't believe it has been tested enough. There are all kinds of freaky side effects, and no one is sure wether they're permanent or not. Honestly, isn't it an STD? (I'm pretty sure it is...) Have safe sex. My mother and I agreed that I will NOT be getting it (I could tell by the look on my doctor's face that he agreed with us!)

Nemaine wrote:

Aelina wrote:

I don't think it's a good idea, I don't believe it has been tested enough. There are all kinds of freaky side effects, and no one is sure wether they're permanent or not. Honestly, isn't it an STD? (I'm pretty sure it is...) Have safe sex. My mother and I agreed that I will NOT be getting it (I could tell by the look on my doctor's face that he agreed with us!)

Er......

All vaccines that go on the market have to be tested.  Not all of them are tested super thoroughly, but this one was probably tested more than most (of course, you can't catch every side effect until a few years after the product has been on the market, but the cost/benefit analysis of most drugs typically means they go on the market sooner rather than later).

And yes, this one is to eliminate several strains of an STD.

Side note: everyone who is educated about the practice (sadly there are women and men who are not) tries their best to have safe sex.  Unfortunately, accidents happen.  That's what this is for.

That's what I mean by well enough. All sorts of scary reports of long-term effects have been popping up and I think they need to be researched more thoroughly before they continue to sell this drug.
And yes, I know, accidents. But the positives don't seem to balance out the negatives in this case, in my opinion.

think its so important to give to everyone, so i clicked the 9-26 option. Many girls do end up becoming sexually active younger than they should, and so not letting girls have the vaccine til they are older simply pretends this is not the case. Should girls who are sexually active younger be punished by being put at risk of getting cancer? I think not.
Plus on the use of protection front, what if a condom breaks, or a girl is raped? I know that for most that will not happen, but isnt it worth it to protect the few it will happen to?

Last edited by Lucyfa (09-01-2008 16:54)

I'm not totally on-board with this new vaccine, but it's not all that different than the hepatitis vaccine you absolutely must get before you walk on many college campuses in the USA.  (IE, only prevents a few of the varieties of the disease).  The real deal is, if it's not mandatory, and if it's not boys and girls, then the vaccine is just making money for the distributors, not really protecting us.  The point of vaccination is to stamp out a disease in the population, not protect people one-by-one. 

What many people see here is that by not getting the vaccine, people are unnecessarily suffering from cancer, which is not on the top of most people's list of desirable unnecessary sufferings. 

The whole 'it brings sex into the arena for young children' is a lot of fear-mongering in my view.  How hard is it to say that you/your daughter is getting a vaccine for a virus that can give them cancer.  End of story.  The promiscuity fear is in the heads of the adults, not of the kids/teens.  It's just unnecessary.

My daughter will be having the vaccine as soon as the nhs gives it to her.  She'll have sex in her own time, the vaccine isn't going to make any difference.  And I think we just have to trust the doctors on vaccines, or else we'll end up risking our kids health on no evidence, like with the MMR jab.

I won't be having sex for a very long time, but I still got the shots. I haven't had the third and last one yet though.

BerryMaxwell wrote:

I clicked for girls over 16. Personally I don't do vaccinations at all (I'm allergic to several things, and don't want to take the risk.)

The reason I chose over 16, is because 16 is the age of sexual consent. Any younger than that, and it is tantamount to accepting underage sex, and even encouraging it, by perceiving it as normal

r u crazy everyone is having sex (tell you the truth little kids are having sex and know what it is and are talking about it all the time crazy isnt it!!!!!!!!!!!)