[HN Gopher] HPV vaccination: How the world can eliminate cervica...
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HPV vaccination: How the world can eliminate cervical cancer
Author : ZeroGravitas
Score : 279 points
Date : 2024-11-04 19:49 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (ourworldindata.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (ourworldindata.org)
| Qem wrote:
| > The virus is also responsible for a large share of other
| cancers, including anal cancer, penile cancer, vulval cancer,
| vaginal cancer, and some head and neck cancers.
|
| It would greatly reduce other types of cancer too. Men also
| benefit from it. Unfortunately the way campaigns market it causes
| many people to think it benefits ladies only.
| yieldcrv wrote:
| I took one look at the initial FDA approvals and paid out of
| pocket for this vaccine.
|
| A cursory understanding of the virus, insurance, and the age
| bounding of getting vaccinated would lead anyone to the same
| conclusion. Unless they are allergic to the word "vaccine".
|
| Basically, the vaccines dont work with prior exposure, and
| there is no test to know if men have been exposed. So thats why
| there is no focus on men, and why initially men were only
| approved for use if they were under 26 years old, based purely
| on probabilities they havent been exposed yet. This is a
| problem for insurance companies.
|
| Also at one point in time, it wasnt linked to cancers affecting
| men, and men were seen only as carriers. Now it seems any area
| of flesh exposed to HPV strains are at risk of cancer there.
|
| The age of male coverage has been expanded to like mid-40s by
| now.
|
| The abstinence crowd worried about anything that makes people
| feel safer engaging in sex will get you killed.
| carlmr wrote:
| >Basically, the vaccines dont work with prior exposure, and
| there is no test to know if men have been exposed. So thats
| why there is no focus on men, and why initially men were only
| approved for use if they were under 26 years old, based
| purely on probabilities they havent been exposed yet.
|
| The vaccine (Gardasil) protects against 9 strains. Even if
| you've been exposed to 1 strain, it protects against the
| other 8 strains.
|
| >Also at one point in time, it wasnt linked to cancers
| affecting men, and men were seen only as carriers. Now it
| seems any area of flesh exposed to HPV strains are at risk of
| cancer there.
|
| Even if it didn't do anything in men, it's stupid not to
| vaccinate as many people as possible to get herd immunity. We
| understand this for a hundred years now with other vaccines,
| why not this one?
|
| Apart from that it's not a bad guess to think that if it
| causes one cancer it will be causing other types of cancer as
| well. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
|
| >The age of male coverage has been expanded to like mid-40s
| by now.
|
| Sadly in Germany it's still only for younger men. And older
| men weren't offered the vaccine at all when they were
| younger, so they never got the offer. I paid out of pocket
| for it, but it's still stupid that we're still putting a part
| of the population at unnecessary risk for cancer, and also
| decreasing herd immunity at the same time.
|
| Lack of HPV vaccination is just a symptom of lack of
| understanding of science and statistics in politics.
| potato3732842 wrote:
| >Lack of HPV vaccination is just a symptom of lack of
| understanding of science and statistics in politics.
|
| At some point it stops being about science or understanding
| and starts being wholly about politics. There's a lot more
| "well these demographics or institutions f-ing hate me so
| I'm sure as shit not taking their word for anything" going
| around than there was a decade ago.
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| > _There 's a lot more "well these demographics or
| institutions f-ing hate me so I'm sure as shit not taking
| their word for anything"_
|
| This would be fine. It goes further: not only rejecting
| the institutions, but concluding adversely based on their
| advocating for something.
| wkat4242 wrote:
| Just wondering how much did you pay for it? Here in Spain I
| also can't get it in my 40s and it costs 800 euro, which is
| a lot on a Spanish wage. And the doctors say there isn't
| much point because I've probably been exposed already
| (considering number of partners that's likely). And then
| the effectiveness is supposed to be massively reduced.
| Still, if it were 200EUR I'd do it. There's only one place
| here where I can get it so I wonder if it's cheaper
| elsewhere.
| carlmr wrote:
| >Just wondering how much did you pay for it?
|
| 180EUR per injection. The normal schedule is 3
| injections. (first, 1 month, 6 month). However I checked
| and NHS (UK) did a study on it that showed a single
| injection provides the same protection as 3, so they
| changed their injection schedule to single injection for
| people under 25, and 2 injections (first + 6-24 months)
| for over 25s due to the expectation that older immune
| systems take longer to adapt.
|
| The German (StIKo) recommendation is still 3, but I
| prefer listening to the NHS here because they have been
| more scientific about this in the past and seem to be
| actively studying this stuff.
|
| I asked my doctor and they said I can pick the schedule I
| want, since it's not insured anyway. So I picked the two
| injection schedule. So that makes 360EUR for me. If the
| NHS study holds you could probably pick a single
| injection and already have most or all of the protection.
| I picked two because I figured it's still recommended for
| my age group that way.
|
| >And the doctors say there isn't much point because I've
| probably been exposed already (considering number of
| partners that's likely).
|
| My doctor said the same, but the NHS says it's still
| useful from their studies. Especially since Gardasil
| protects against 9 variants. It's unlikely you've been
| exposed to all 9 variants.
|
| I am not a doctor, so I can only tell you what I've found
| helpful in making my decision.
| wkat4242 wrote:
| Aha thank you! I really appreciate your feedback here.
| It's a bit more expensive here, just over 200 per
| injection but that sounds about right then. I will see
| about getting the 1 or 2 then!
| carlmr wrote:
| You're welcome!
|
| I forgot to link the sources the 9-valent vaccine is the
| current Gardasil:
|
| https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/single-dose-
| of-hp...
| theGnuMe wrote:
| >Basically, the vaccines dont work with prior exposure
|
| The FDA recommends it for males under 45 now. It does prevent
| infection from new exposures. In time I bet that we will find
| it reduces cancer incidence even in those infected before
| vaccination. Those studies will take years to complete and it
| is too early to tell.
|
| When the vaccine was first available, it was rationed, and
| the highest priority was for young girls before they become
| sexually active since they have the highest benefit.
| crossroadsguy wrote:
| I had wart on my heel once - kinda annoyingly stubborn which
| finally removed/subdued by laser removal (nitrogen therapy
| did jacks). That's HPV, right? And guess once inside you, it
| stays inside you, right?
| bluGill wrote:
| There are over 100 hpv strlins. Warts are one yes, butnot
| the strain in question (though there are reports the
| vaccine helps for warts too I have not seen science verify
| that)
| tialaramex wrote:
| HPV is a family of viruses. There are _dozens_ and the
| vaccine targets, I think, _nine_. So, that probably was
| HPV, but it probably was _not_ one of the members of the
| family which the vaccine targets, the vaccine is focused on
| the sexually transmitted variants, since these are
| associated with Cervical cancer in particular, and several
| other nasty cancers, plus the genital warts.
| Nifty3929 wrote:
| >> Basically, the vaccines dont work with prior exposure
|
| This is a beef I have with a lot of medical thinking: that if
| it doesn't work it would be bad to do it. But that's not true
| at all - many things are good to do, if there is some chance
| it will help, even if most of the time it does nothing. You
| do have to weigh other negatives like cost, pain, hassle, or
| unknown side effects.
|
| But in general - if it might make me better and won't make me
| worse - then sign me up!
| pbhjpbhj wrote:
| Every vaccine (happy to get counter evidence) has negative
| side-effects, every injection is a risk. When you're
| injection multiple millions of your population on the off-
| chance it might help then you're going to get some very
| sick, or dead people.
|
| At 200EUR a time (plus administration costs, plus lost work
| hours of those you're injecting), for millions of people
| that's also a lot of wasted funds that could be put into
| medicines that are known to be effective for the people
| they're treating.
|
| Why, for medicines that are highly available, that a doctor
| considers to be low risk, a sane adult can't just elect to
| pay for and take a medicine, that I am not sure of.
| pyuser583 wrote:
| Last I checked it wasn't available for men.
| bertylicious wrote:
| What do you mean not available? It's the same vaccine for men
| and women AFAIK. Or do you mean it's usually not paid for by
| health insurance? I (male) don't remember if I had to pay for
| the vaccine myself when I got vaccinated, which to me
| indicates that it wasn't that expensive.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| I'm not a doctor nor particularly fond of them, but as I
| understand it older men who have been sexually active are
| likely already exposed, so doctors won't prescribe the
| vaccine nor will insurance cover the cost. I don't know if
| it's something you can just walk in to a clinic and ask for
| and pay cash.
|
| The big push lately has been to get kids vaccinated before
| they are teens, which mine (all males) were.
|
| I have not had this vaccine, but at my age and being
| married any new sexual contacts are pretty unlikely so not
| sure there's any benefit to me either way.
| trescenzi wrote:
| I'm getting my course of it now. I'm a ~30 year old man in
| the US. Maybe other countries haven't expanded access?
|
| My doctor recommended it to me and it was covered by
| insurance. They said while it cannot protect you from
| previous exposure it's pretty wide so it's unlikely I have
| yet to encounter every HPV variation it protects against.
| itishappy wrote:
| You should check again!
|
| > The CDC suggests catch-up HPV vaccinations for all people
| through age 26 who aren't fully vaccinated.
|
| > The FDA approved the use of Gardasil 9 for males and
| females ages 9 to 45.
|
| https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hpv-
| infection...
|
| > HPV vaccine is recommended for routine vaccination at age
| 11 or 12 years. (Vaccination can be started at age 9.)
|
| > ACIP also recommends vaccination for everyone through age
| 26 years if not adequately vaccinated when younger. HPV
| vaccination is given as a series of either two or three
| doses, depending on age at initial vaccination.
|
| https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/hpv/hcp/recommendations.htm.
| ..
| Modified3019 wrote:
| I'm a 38 year old male in the USA and I've had two out of
| three shots of gardasil 9, with my third (final) in a few
| months. There are multiple strains, so even if you have one,
| the vaccine will protect against the others.
|
| You have to bring it up to the doctor yourself though.
| DontchaKnowit wrote:
| Im male and had it offered to me by my primary care in like
| 2009
| pyuser583 wrote:
| Last I checked was in the US, 2008.
|
| I was going to be traveling overseas, and was worried it
| would be required by a foreign country. I wanted all
| vaccines handled by my American GP, so the records would be
| in one place. I was very insistent: "Give me every vaccine
| for every country."
|
| He said if I wanted the vaccine that bad, I'd have to get
| it overseas.
| opello wrote:
| It was on the checklist at Walgreens when I got my flu
| shot and COVID booster. Maybe you don't even need a
| prescription now?
| astura wrote:
| In the US Gardasil 9 is FDA approved for men and women up to
| age 45.
|
| https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-
| appr...
| TZubiri wrote:
| Well since the probabilities of infection is magnified by
| lesions, and those occur more often in the receptive partner,
| it will disproportionately affect women and gay men. As is the
| case for stds in general.
|
| The extent to which these vaccines would be helpful to mean is
| usually to avoid hurting women. Which is not minor at all, I
| would definitely get one for that reason alone. But I wouldn't
| be concerned for personal risks.
| Ponet1945 wrote:
| > Unfortunately the way campaigns market it causes many people
| to think it benefits ladies only.
|
| That's a pretty diplomatic way to say that they pretty much
| don't care about men being affected. In my region the vaccine
| is free for women but men have to pay despite >40% of cancers
| caused being in men and nobody even informs you of that.
| stuaxo wrote:
| I really hope this happens, I'm a little cynical after hoping
| that we would come together and eradicate COVID 19.
| EricE wrote:
| That would be pretty hard to do since the mRNA "vaccine"
| neither prevented infection or stopped the spread.
| Krssst wrote:
| It did for the first variants, but then Omicron happened.
|
| I see you're calling a vaccine a "vaccine". Noted.
| WillPostForFood wrote:
| MRNA vaccine is highly effective at reducing symptoms and
| saving lives of those at high risk (e.g., over 65), but it
| was never effective at preventing infection or stopping
| transmission. People who were saying that were somewhere
| between being over optimistic, and spreading disinformation
| to try to increase uptake.
| javagram wrote:
| Studies showed it decreased infection and transmission
| against the original strain of Covid.[0]
|
| It lost effectiveness against delta and then became
| nearly ineffective against Omicron (although still
| helping with reduction of hospitalizations and deaths).
|
| Non-mRNA vaccine is available now (Novavax) and the
| effectiveness, or lack thereof, seems similar.
|
| [0] https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-
| news/2021/07/vaccination-a...
| seattle_spring wrote:
| I assume they're talking about attempts to eradicate it in
| the first few weeks when it was thought to only be present in
| a few people.
| InsideOutSanta wrote:
| The current mRNA vaccines are moderately effective at
| preventing Covid infections, about on par with current flu
| vaccines.
|
| Not all vaccines are equally effective, but none of them are
| 100% effective at preventing infections. The only thing
| vaccines do is prepare the immune system for an infection.
| Since SARS-CoV-2 mutations happen a lot faster than (for
| example) measles, Covid vaccines are a lot less effective -
| by the time you're infected, the infection is dissimilar
| enough to what the immune system was prepared for that the
| preparation is no longer optimal.
| ChrisClark wrote:
| And yet there are still people that think it was supposed to
| in the first place. Thinking that makes it a failure, at
| least you don't think it's full of mind control tracking
| nanobots though. :D
|
| Or maybe you are, since you used scare quotes. It's probably
| too late to share any facts with you at this point...
| Rendello wrote:
| COVID-19 is also transmissible to a lot of animals [1]. The
| Wikipedia link says "Most animal species that can get the virus
| have not been proven to be able to spread it back to humans",
| though I don't know if that's still the current consensus:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_that_can_get_S...
| pessimizer wrote:
| I thought we could have cut the entire thing short by
| vaccinating everyone who wanted it, and letting them
| quarantine, while at the same time encouraging everyone who
| didn't want to be vaccinated to socialize as much as possible
| (while watching hospital capacities carefully.)
|
| There was this strange determination at the time, from every
| media and government outlet, not to accept that having had
| covid was as (or more) effective than taking the vaccine. And
| also not to accept that mass lockdowns were destructive. My
| grandfather was a victim of the lockdowns (as one of the many
| with vascular dementia who were kept going by being stimulated
| by family.) After 93 years of raising a family, he got to die
| alone, confused and isolated.
|
| edit: it's all of the authoritative disinformation during covid
| that's threatening cervical cancer vaccination. It brought the
| thoroughly discredited anti-vaxxers of yore back into the
| (numerical) mainstream, and respected as heroes (JFK, Jr. for
| one example.) Wakefield's paper is just as stupid as it ever
| was, but now you will never convince the majority of Americans
| that vaccines don't cause autism. The Lancet is trash.
| tzs wrote:
| > I thought we could have cut the entire thing short by
| vaccinating everyone who wanted it, and letting them
| quarantine, while at the same time encouraging everyone who
| didn't want to be vaccinated to socialize as much as possible
| (while watching hospital capacities carefully.)
|
| We sort of did do that because of how much policies varied
| from state to state and even from county to county or city to
| city within a state. For nearly any aspect of of pandemic
| response it is possible to find demographically similar
| counties that differed on that particular are and compare
| outcomes.
| daggersandscars wrote:
| I was diagnosed and successfully treated for HPV+ oropharyngeal
| cancer in 2023. My treatment results were almost perfect, from a
| clinical perspective. I had transoral robotic surgery to remove
| the tumors in my mouth / throat, neck dissection to remove
| cancerous and non-cancerous lymph nodes, and radiation to treat
| the area after cancer was found to have escaped the lymph nodes.
|
| If I were 10-ish years younger, I wouldn't have gotten cancer. I
| was likely exposed to HPV in my early to mid 20s, where it hid in
| my tonsils for decades.
|
| In the US, almost anyone under 45 can get vaccinated. Please do.
| As another comment points out, they protect against multiple
| strains. It's unlikely you've been exposed to all of them.
|
| While HPV+ head and neck cancers are more easily and more
| successfully treated than HPV- ones, I do not recommend getting
| cancer.
|
| From the outside, I look like a normal person of late middle age.
| The two incision scars I have look like neck folds -- literally
| no one, including medical personnel outside of the cancer world,
| notices them.
|
| From the inside, tho:
|
| * Can no longer taste sugar, salt, chocolate, and a host of
| other, smaller things. Most other things have less taste and
| pretty much nothing has a flavor after a few bites. For some,
| this eventually stops -- I'm unlucky. (Radiation destruction of
| taste buds)
|
| * Significantly decreased saliva to the throat. Cannot eat
| without some liquid. The saliva that forms is thicker and
| sometimes causes problems swallowing. Some get this to the mouth
| and to a larger extreme -- I'm lucky. (Radiation)
|
| * Dental trauma, including teeth extraction / root canal / deep
| fillings, may cause spontaneous bone tissue death in the jaw.
| (Radiation)
|
| * Permanent sensation of partial numbness centered around my left
| ear and cheek. Touching that area produces a pins and needles
| sensation. (Neck dissection)
|
| * No feeling in a stripe about 1.5" (4cm) wide where the neck
| dissection scars are. (Neck dissection)
|
| * Changes in speech quality. These are not clinically significant
| but changed my voice from one people enjoyed listening to (asked
| to do voice over work, complemented, etc) to just another voice.
| (Surgery)
|
| * Tinnitus increased significantly and hearing has worsened. I
| was not given chemo, the normal cause of hearing loss. (Unsure
| cause)
|
| There's more, but those are some of the highlights. Get
| vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, etc.
|
| HPV- head and neck cancers in the US are dropping as people quit
| smoking. HPV+ are on the rise for now, but will drop as the
| generations with vaccinations get older.
|
| I'm traveling today, but will look at this later today if anyone
| has a question to ask.
| nick_ wrote:
| An immediate family member of mine lives with the same
| diminished quality of life as you. It is very significant. I
| wish you the best.
| TZubiri wrote:
| Wow that's brutal. I always thought of these cancers in terms
| of mortality, but for every lethal case there have to be dozens
| of hundreds of people that are non-lethally damaged by the
| disease.
|
| Congratulations on surviving!
| seth323 wrote:
| I am now 31, was diagnosed stage 4b oral cancer in 2022 when I
| was 28 - underwent the same general surgery as parent comment
| to remove positive margins left after the initial biopsy of my
| tongue and almost all lymph nodes in the left side of my neck.
| I also underwent 6 weeks of radiation. I was not HPV positive
| and don't smoke or drink so doctors are still clueless as to
| why I developed cancer.
|
| Can confirm radiation is brutal and almost indescribable.
| Everything tasted bitter and sulfurous for 6 months, even
| water. I had a feeding tube placed after not eating for 3 weeks
| and losing 25% of my body weight (roughly 35 pounds). I was
| days away from death. I would wake up every night with blood
| pouring out of my nose and was not able to open my jaw for
| almost a week. 2 years later, after many iterations of
| lymphedema, physical and speech therapy I am still in
| significant pain every day and cannot even swallow my own spit
| unless I am on narcotics around the clock. That in itself is a
| nightmare because finding a provider that will prescribe a
| steady supply of narcotics instead of pushing expensive
| procedures so they can get rich is difficult. I am routinely
| drug tested so I can get medications that prevent me from
| starving to death. It is humiliating.
|
| I am lucky in that my speech is virtually the same as before
| treatment which is rare, and my taste has returned to normal. I
| would die of starvation without narcotics and I don't know if I
| will ever gain the energy and stamina to have children, and yet
| I still consider myself extremely well off compared to other
| survivors.
|
| Please get vaccinated for HPV and lower your risk factors for
| oral cancer in general. It is one of the worst late stage
| cancers to recover from. You may be alive after the treatments
| but radiation will destroy your quality of life and you will
| likely be dependent on doctors for basic tasks for a long time,
| if not the rest of your existence. I don't want to think about
| what my life will be like if my cancer ever returns.
| rsync wrote:
| "In the US, almost anyone under 45 can get vaccinated."
|
| Can you expand on this ?
|
| Why can't people over the age of 45 be vaccinated ?
|
| Is that restriction "on label" ?
| daggersandscars wrote:
| The CDC does not "recommend" vaccinations over 45, mostly due
| to previous exposure. I suspect one can find doctors willing
| to do the vaccination for those over 45, though one may need
| to convince them.
|
| Whether this is useful depends. HPV 16 and 18 are the "high
| risk" strains most associated with cancer. Depending on your
| sexual history, getting vaccinated at 45+ may be useful.
| Unfortunately, there's no reliable test for HPV 16 and 18 for
| those who have already had it.
|
| https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/hpv/hcp/recommendations.htm.
| ..
| Avalaxy wrote:
| Wow, thanks for your story. I'm terrified of getting this too,
| and I've been wondering what it's like.
| w10-1 wrote:
| The HPV vaccine has been a universal win for this generation.
| Screening (pap smear) is also highly effective, but requires
| constant effort.
|
| The remaining gaps in screening and vaccine uptake reflect
| broader lack of health-care capabilities that won't be solved
| with pushing the HPV vaccine alone. Changing from injectable to
| oral could help, but isn't on the table, and local populations
| and governments are likely to become increasingly resistant to
| outsiders waving their science authorities, particularly on
| family matters.
|
| Both authors are Phd's working in outreach - i.e., they seem to
| have no experience with deploying HPV campaigns.
| prepend wrote:
| I think it's funny how in the US the vaccine schedule says not to
| get the HPV vaccine if you're over 45. That means that insurance
| won't cover it and I even struggle finding a doctor who will
| administer it because it goes against the guidelines.
|
| The rationale is that if you're 45, you probably already have
| HPV. But that assumes that you've been sexually active all that
| time. It doesn't take into account people who were monogamous
| until their 50s and then started having sex with new partners.
| opello wrote:
| Exactly. It'd be nice if primary care physicians approached the
| request with an open mind and had the real conversation about
| any risk/reward. I don't know if there's any risk to taking the
| 9-valent version if you might have been exposed to one that it
| covers. But why isn't it valuable to have protection from the
| other 8?
|
| My bias is climbing the hill of convincing on this front 5
| years ago and being on the receiving end of a pretty dismissive
| attitude. But I got my way and think it was the right choice.
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| _> schedule says not to get the HPV vaccine if you're over 45.
| That means that insurance won't cover it_
|
| If it makes you feel any better I live in an EU country with
| one of the best healthcare systems, or so we keep hearing, and
| here the public health insurance only covers it for those under
| 30. What a joke.
|
| And Europeans keep saying how much worse the American system
| is.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| Here it actually depends on which pseudo-private-public
| insurer you have. Most have age limits for coverage, the most
| common one being 25 or 26. The lowest seems to be 19 (what a
| joke, it's in the catalog for <=18), many don't cover it at
| all. Total cost (no discounts, since not covered) seems to be
| about 700-800 EUR.
|
| > And Europeans keep saying how much worse the American
| system is.
|
| There's a reason the comparison is always the average/median
| situation in the EU vs. the worst possible situation you
| could be in the US.
| jeroenhd wrote:
| I don't know about the quality of our local healthcare
| system, but I'm a little annoyed that I didn't qualify for
| the free HPV vaccination but people two years younger than me
| did. The government invited anyone born in an 8 year period
| and about 20% responded. I wish they'd given me the option to
| take part in the program even if I wasn't actively invited,
| it's not like there's a shortage because of high demand; even
| among kids the vaccination rates are only at 50% to 60%
| thanks to the rise of antivax parents and covid
| misinformation.
|
| I'm not going to start a fight with the local healthcare call
| center to let me pay the 200-300 euros for a vaccination they
| think I shouldn't be getting according to every piece of
| information they publish about it. I know the government is
| trying to cut costs on healthcare and all, but the resistance
| the idea that someone without a cervix may benefit from a HPV
| vaccination annoys me to no end.
|
| Out of all possible healthcare cost cutting measures,
| charging hundreds for vaccines against diseases that are
| widely present within the borders of the country must be the
| stupidest.
|
| That said, I'd much rather take the annoying European
| healthcare system over the American one. I can get every
| vaccine out of pocket twice a year and still be cheaper off
| than with your average American health insurance.
| Tijdreiziger wrote:
| Your profile indicates you're Dutch, so you can just ask
| your huisarts or local GGD for the vaccine, no fighting
| necessary. I did this myself a few years ago.
|
| You'll have to pay for it yourself, though.
|
| Info: https://www.rivm.nl/hpv-humaan-
| papillomavirus/vaccinatie-hpv...
| selimnairb wrote:
| I got it when I was around 40. Before getting the three doses,
| I would get 3-4 nasty viral sore throats per year (white
| blistery lesions, very painful). Now I get zero. I was probably
| on my way to getting throat cancer like Michael Douglas.
| Hopefully I have avoided or at least forestalled that.
| ivewonyoung wrote:
| Thought it doesn't help against the strains that you're
| already infected with? Hence the min and max ages in the
| guidance.
| throwitawayfam wrote:
| There is some evidence that it can help against self
| inoculation and immune response to an existing infection
|
| https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10
| ....
|
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0090
| 8...
| abracadaniel wrote:
| From what I've seen, it's been shown to be effective
| against existing infections, as well as preventing it from
| progressing to cancer.
| Avalaxy wrote:
| I can't find anything about this, do you have any papers?
| InsideOutSanta wrote:
| I also got the vaccine at 44 (years later than it is
| recommended where I live in Europe), because:
|
| - It targets multiple HPV strains, and even though I've been
| sexually active, I'm probably unlikely to have all of them, so
| there is some future protection
|
| - It helps prevent reinfection
|
| - There is evidence that it helps reduce the risk of
| progression to a cancerous state, which is also something that
| can happen for males
|
| I didn't even bother to talk to a doctor, I just called a
| women's clinic, made an appointment, and paid for it myself.
| They were surprised, but super happy and supportive.
|
| All three injections cost me the equivalent of 160 US$.
| tecleandor wrote:
| What country is that? I'm 42, male/ Spain, and I also have to
| pay for them out of pocket, but it's around 190EUR EACH of
| the three doses.
| Avalaxy wrote:
| > There is evidence that it helps reduce the risk of
| progression to a cancerous state
|
| I have not been able to find this. Do you happen to have a
| link to a paper?
| Retric wrote:
| It's not just that older people are more likely to have HPV but
| also there's significantly less time for it to progress to
| cancer at that age.
|
| 45 may be young enough to be worth it if the treatment was
| free, but at ~1,000$ the net benefit is more questionable.
| stared wrote:
| I am surprised that this study does not mention which vaccines
| are being used - as they vary by the number of HPV types they
| protect against.
|
| "Currently there are six licensed HPV vaccines: three bivalent
| (protect against two types of HPV), two quadrivalent (against
| four), and one nonavalent vaccine (against nine)" -
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPV_vaccine
| richrichie wrote:
| My physician told me that for ages above 40 benefits don't
| compensate potential side effects and advised against it. This
| was pre-covid times, before vaccines became unquestionable cult
| drugs.
| oezi wrote:
| When the health authorities say that they don't recommend it
| because benefits do not outweigh risks they usually mean that
| the benefits aren't at least 2 magnitudes (100 times) bigger
| than the risks. Vaccination usually is highly beneficial, but
| as one ages the benefit does diminish. Agencies don't want to
| be stuck with vaccines which have large side effects.
| rawgabbit wrote:
| I remember when Gardasil was first introduced and the related
| controversy. I believe there were questions about its safety
| because at first it was targeted at 12 year old females. At one
| point the Japanese Ministry of Health suspended the vaccine and
| then later resumed it.
|
| For me the explanation of how this vaccine works still confuses
| me. For example while older people are advised to get Shringix to
| mitigate the consequences of a reactivated chickenpox virus.
| Older are advised not to get Gardasil because once you get HPV,
| the vaccine is ineffective?
|
| https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211115/p2a/00m/0op/00...
| Teever wrote:
| As I understand it from talking with a healthcare worker it
| isn't so much that it's less effective if you already have the
| infection (though it is) it's more just a triage decision.
|
| People in various health care systems around the world have
| just done a cost benefit analysis and decided that it isn't
| worth paying for the vaccine for older people, that we'll just
| let them get cancer and go through treatment/die.
| 123yawaworht456 wrote:
| babe! it's 4 PM
| Avalaxy wrote:
| I really wish we had therapeutic vaccines against HPV. As a man,
| I always got told "it's not for men", followed by "it is also for
| men, but only if you never had sex", followed by "it's also for
| men who had sex, but only to a limited age".
|
| As a male who meets all the criteria to be in a high risk group
| for HPV throat cancer, and who is dealing with a persistent HPV
| infection (as proved by warts that won't go away), I'm really sad
| that I may one day at a young age get cancer in my throat, and
| there is nothing I can do about it to prevent it. I wish we would
| put the same amount of energy into inventing vaccines that
| suppress the virus, or help the body to get rid of them.
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