[zulux]

At one point, it was encouraged that 9-year-olds get the vaccine.

As a parent, I'd rather my child wait until their immune system is more developed, with the idea being that if they're getting STDs at age 9, then there's a bigger problem.

[root_axis]

What age do you recommend and why?

> I'd rather my child wait until their immune system is more developed

At what age is the immune system fully developed?

[shirro]

There is a medical recommendation for ages 9-25 in my country though the public funded mass vaccination program is for 12-13 as the most effective age.

The thought that a 9yo would need protection from STDs is very upsetting which I would guess makes it a talking point. It is better to mass vaccinate at whatever age is publicly acceptable than not at all so I would concede that to critics.

Anyone exposed to sexual activity at such an age is clearly a victim of abuse. Penalising victims of abuse, whether it be forcing them to attempt to carry a baby to term, against medical advice, or forcing them to deal with the consequences of STDs is a very peculiar and nasty attitude. When societies start justifying denial of care and treatment along lines of class, politics, age, race, religion, gender or perceptions of "morality" there's a bigger problem.

[smackeyacky]

Men raping children is why they wanted to start at 9.

[discordance]

Source?

I thought it was because the vaccine is most effective for people before sexual activity begins.

[smackeyacky]

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6114142/

Recommended for victims of sexual assault. Rather revoltingly one conservative objection to giving it to 9 years olds was that it would “increase risky behaviour” in that cohort, despite knowing that the biggest risk of sexually transmitted disease to children that age is rape by family member.

[wolvoleo]

HPV can be transmitted sexually and it is the most common way, but it's definitely not the only way. Once you've contracted one of the variants the vaccine prevents it is too late for that one so that's why they want to do it as early as possible. The most common vaccine Gardasil 9 protects against 9 variants. Of course it's best to take advantage of the best protection it can offer, so why not do it early?

Also, it takes 3 jabs and about 8 months (increasing intervals) so it's important to do it early for that reason too.

[moralestapia]

Completely agree.

If kids are getting HPV before their teens, the solution is not vaccination ...

[wolvoleo]

HPV is not exclusively transmitted by sexual activity.

[toomuchtodo]

As a parent, you cannot control when your child becomes sexually active and potentially exposed to HPV (at which point vaccination is less effective based on HPV strain). Therefore, it behooves you to protect them with a vaccine before potential exposure, as the vaccine risk is very low, based on all available data. I cannot imagine what it would feel like to face your child who experiences cancer that could’ve been prevented with a vaccine a parent chooses to delay or even skip. Luckily, this conversation and pain is easily avoided.

I completely understand there are some parents who will ignore this idea out of ideology or other non data and risk driven mental models, but am confident this cohort continues to shrink generation over generation. The cost of this will be cancer incidents that could’ve been avoided, but humans will human, so it is what it is. “Better luck next generational cohort.”

(day job is risk management, I get paid to assess and quantify risk, this is just another risk exposure to quantify and manage; my kids get all of their vaccines as soon as they’re eligible for them, no hesitation, no regrets)

[apparent]

> As a parent, you cannot control when your child becomes sexually active

It's not entirely out of your control, even though you can't control it entirely.

Also, giving your kid vaccines that are only relevant for sexually active people sends a message, which is that you expect that they may be sexually active. That's not a message that some people want to send to their tweens.

edit: when people downvote this, is it because they think it is untrue, or they just don't like it?

[toomuchtodo]

> It's not entirely out of your control, even though you can't control it entirely.

--

> "Unfortunately, the modern-day parental rights movement is predicated on a belief that children are the property of their parents, and therefore parents, “should be able to do anything they want to them."

is a quote I read today in https://www.404media.co/are-public-libraries-becoming-childr... that perfectly encapsulated this problem space, which linked to

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236...

https://archive.org/details/hfvemhgahusmfvqxur73qccoumjmqg6z...

> The illusion of control is obviously not working and will have devastating consequences for the rest of us, which people do not want and vehemently reject. This means the answer likely lies somewhere between meeting your kids where they’re at, even when where they’re at bears no resemblance to the Devil You Know. Which is scary and sucks, but that’s also what parenting is, and which a lot of parents don’t seem to get. “We talk about parents’ rights, but what we really need is parent remedial education,” Magnussun added.

(while in the context of parents prohibiting access to library materials a parent may disagree with, I believe the concept transfers and holds to this situation as well)

> Also, giving your kid vaccines that are only relevant for sexually active people sends a message, which is that you expect that they may be sexually active. That's not a message that some people want to send to their tweens.

Various studies show this to be false. If you think this is the message it sends, this is not borne out in the data. Update your priors.

HPV vaccination status is not associated with increased risky sexual behavior - https://www.hpvworld.com/articles/hpv-vaccination-status-is-...

> The consistent, replicated findings across the 20 studies examined in our systematic review provide strong evidence refuting the proposed association between HPV vaccination and risky sexual behavior. The 20 studies, which utilizing at least four distinct study designs and included a total of 521,879 participants, found no evidence for increased numbers of sexual partners, younger age of sexual initiation, decreased use of contraception (including both condoms and hormonal contraceptives), increased STI diagnoses, increased pregnancy rates, or increased history of abortion among those vaccinated against HPV. In fact, some studies found that vaccinated women engaged in fewer risky behaviors than unvaccinated women. The findings from our systematic review should alleviate any parental concerns that HPV vaccination will lead to risky sexual behaviors.

Kasting, M. L., Shapiro, G. K., Rosberger, Z., Kahn, J. A., & Zimet, G. D. (2016). Tempest in a teapot: A systematic review of HPV vaccination and risk compensation research. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 12(6), 1435–1450. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2016.1141158

HPV Vaccine Doesn't Make Teens More Promiscuous, Says Study - https://www.christianpost.com/news/hpv-vaccine-doesnt-make-t... - October 15th, 2012

> "The takeaway here is that this vaccine is safe and effective, and it's not associated with any risk of … outcomes related to sexual activity," Benarczyk explained. "This is reassuring to physicians and the parents that the concern doesn't need to be there."

[pyuser583]

What age do you recommend they be vaccinated?

[toomuchtodo]

Lower age bound for Gardasil 9 is nine years old. That is when I had my kids vaccinated for it at their pediatrician.

https://www.gardasil9.com/

[toomuchtodo]

Additional resource:

https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/vaccines/index.html