Health Professional Says the HPV Controversy that Linked the Vaccine to Increased Promiscuity is Not True

The HPV vaccine, designed to protect girls and women from cervical cancer and other HPV related diseases has come to be a topic of controversy.  Parents are concerned that it will cause their children to become more promiscuous, and give them the "ok" to engage in sexual activity, and some schools across the nation have wanted to mandate the vaccine for their children to attend school.  However, it has been proven that this vaccine in fact causes girls to actually delay sexual activity, and creates awareness about safe sex through parents talking to their kids.

What is the HPV Vaccine?  

     The HPV vaccine is a vaccine given to protect women against cervical cancer and HPV related diseases.  This vaccine protects against 4 of the most common strains of HPV known to lead to cervical cancer.  Cevarix and Gardasil are two vaccines that are on the market currently, and both provide the same benefits.  It is important to be aware that this vaccine does not treat any diseases related to HPV or cervical cancer, it simply protects against the most common strains of the HPV disease, most of which are high-risk.  HPV types 16 and 18 are known as high-risk, and have been found to account for almost half of all vaginal, vulvar, and penile cancers.  A lot of research is currently being done on this vaccine, and Kelly Madden, a Graduate Student at UMD and Health Communication Professional is currently researching this vaccine and the health messages associated with it.  She is involved in doing content analyses on websites, blogs, and YouTube videos to see how the vaccine is being portrayed.  Madden says that these contain messages such as how HPV is linked to cervical cancer, barriers that people are experiencing as to why they are not getting vaccinated, and how susceptible people are to contracting HPV through sex.  

  

The target population of the vaccine is girls ages 11 to 12

      This vaccine is advised to be given to girls starting at ages 11 to 12, before they become sexually active.  It is important to get this vaccine early, which is why it is so controversial.  Madden made it clear that most of the controversy deals with the parents and their decision to get their child vaccinated or not.  Parents see this as an easy way to give the wrong idea to their children that it is acceptable to start having sex at such a young age, and in turn cause them to be more promiscuous.  In fact, Madden says that teens are actually delaying sex, and it has been shown that girls who obtain the vaccine in their early teen and pre-teen phase are more likely to engage in safe sex practices. This is because they are more aware of the effects of having unsafe sex and all of the possible STI’s and diseases that exist.  

The HPV vaccine has been proven not to cause increased promiscuity among teens

     Despite the concern of most parents who are struggling with the decision to get their child vaccinated or not, research has shown that this vaccine does not cause girls to be more sexually active.  In a new study done described by CBS News, “at least 90 percent of vaccinated and unvaccinated girls did not seek pregnancy tests, chlamydia tests or birth control counseling, markers that were considered surrogates for sexual activity during up to three years of follow-up.” Thus, it is clear that there is no correlation with getting the vaccine and practices related to sex.  Another aspect of this controversial vaccine is the debate on whether or not it should be mandated.  Madden says some states are trying to mandate the vaccine to be able to attend school, but parents express the concern that this makes no sense.  HPV is a disease that is contracted only through sex, which separates it from other diseases that are vaccinated against for school.  Overall, it is clear that teens are not becoming more promiscuous as a result of this vaccine.  

      The following video shows a clip of Madden talking about her view on the HPV controversy and how it does not in fact cause teens to be more promiscuous.

Awareness about the vaccine and cervical cancer need to increase

According to a study by Tiro et al., "Among the 40% of women who had ever heard about HPV, <50% knew it caused cervical cancer; knowledge that HPV was sexually transmitted and caused abnormal Pap tests was higher (64% and 79%, respectively)." It is clear that young women's awareness about HPV is very low, so increasing awareness about this topic would help better the health of our youth.  Madden made it clear that this starts with informing doctors about the vaccine and why it is important to tell your patients about the risks of the disease and why the vaccine should be given.  She said that it was found in the messages she studied that a lot of them showed how HPV is linked to cervical cancer.  It is important to make this connection in health messages so that people understand how risky the disease is, and why they should receive the vaccine.  

The following audio clip shows Larissa, a Communication major at UMD's thoughts on the HPV debate.

listen to ‘Hpv vaccine 1’ on Audioboo