Hello does anyone have any advice on the risk of my daughter getting RA or other autoimmune disease triggered if she has the HPV vaccine. They are about to give them to 12 to 13yr olds at her school. I am nervous because I have read there is some evidence to suggest a link. I also know someone who's daughter developed CFS after the vaccine. They have a family history of skin allergies and excema, and her mother believes her daughters immune systom responce wasn't strong.
My daughter has a little seborrheic dermatitis. The development of Psoriasis has been known to follow this. We have two members of the family with Psoriasis.
Any thoughts appreciated. 🙂
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I don't have daughters, but like you I'd be pretty nervous about it. I think I'd do more research. I wonder just how useful the vaccine actually is in comparison to side effects. What's in the vaccine?
The net is bulging with pros for the vaccine but the cons must also be taken seriously and analyzed even though they may not be in line with what is officially accepted. Here a review on the cons.
Quite hard to identify the absolute risk from this? Even digging into some of the references didn't help much. Yes it seems there is a risk, although the causal link not totally established. But at what level? One in a million? One in 100,000? It's hard for any individual to make their mind up if they can't weight up one risk against another on similar terms.
True enough, but these are worries that have been presented by many doctors and if you are a mother you are not so much interested in the stats as in possible serious side effects. And especially if you can get the same protection from yearly papa smears, without taking risks. Here are some numbers that do show something about the pros and cons.
As I said, my sister ended up infertile from depending on yearly smears. It is a dreadful subject where there is no right answer, just the one that you personally feel most comfortable with.
Its difficult to be totally secure in the findings. If you have an autoimmune disease you are aware that there are possible triggers. RA may begin because of multiple factors, but the genetic link is there too. There is no conclusive evidence to say that certain individuals may react badly, but the possible side effects can be fever, aches, fatigue and in some young people these have gone on longer than a day or two otherwise it wouldn't be listed. Yes the vaccine will certainly prevent the development of cancer, but if your immune system has a possible variant leaving you more vulnerable to the development of autoimmune disease then having the vaccine seems a risk in itself.
This is obviously just the findings of one study, but having said that, it looked at "290,939 girls aged 12 to 17", so it is a widescale study, and didn't see any link.
You should also weigh up any risk the vaccine might have with the importance of it for your daughter. The NHS information on this says: "Most unvaccinated people will be infected with some type of HPV at some time in their life. In most cases, the virus does not do any harm because their immune system clears the infection.
But in some cases, the infection stays in the body for many years and then, for no apparent reason, it may start to cause damage." The full NHS information can be found here:
It is a personal choice and we're not qualified to advise. However nearly 1000 women die from cervical cancer each year. Of course usually at a much older age, but still it's a risk. My sister had cervical cancer (identified by a smear test) and was successfully treated apart from not being able to have children - so dying from cervical cancer is not the only thing to consider.
I am always scared of vaccines and very suspicious. I am sure they are saving lives globally but when it comes down to my family members I do not think globally. I weigh all the risk factors and alternatives very carefully. If I have autoimmune diseases in my family, I would certainly see this as an additional risk factor. And there may be others.Simba
Go & have a chat with your GP.......it's a hard decision as although there have been reports of side effects occurring after this vaccine, as far as I have read there is no proof.
One way of looking at it is psoriasis & dermatitis are very nasty but are not usually fatal....not always the case with cervical cancer,
I would advise caution, as I got ITP, after Yellow Fever Vaccine. The website mentions One in a million can get an Auto Immune Disorder, including RA. I didn't know I had RA, when I took the vaccine. That is I wasn't diagnosed till then.
While YFV is a Live vaccine, HPV is not. However it contains Aluminium as an Adjuvant. Please go through the following:
My daughter had the HPV vaccine. Last night on our local news they were discussing the poor take up of cervical smear testing and stated that the HPV vaccine protects from 7/10 types of cervical cancers, but its still important to have regular smear tests to check for the other 3.
It's not the same when you consume and get injected. Imortant difference. Here is some reading about aluminium adjuvent that people are seldom aware of.
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