When To Consider The HPV Vaccine?

HPV vaccine

About 50% of all adults who are sexually active, and live in the U.S., will become infected with the HPV virus during their lives. This is a huge number, and statistics are pointing to the fact that it will only grow in the next few years. This HPV virus is associated with cervical cancer in women. With that being said, it is important to know that about 80% of females will come in contact with this virus before they ever reach the age of 50. This is why the invention of the HPV vaccine, which was developed in 2006, is so important. This vaccine helps protect young women and young girls from the HPV virus.

The vaccine for HPV is called Gardasil, and is marketed by Merck. It has been found to be nearly one hundred percent effective in preventing the four strains of HPV that, when put together, account for seventy percent of the cases of cervical cancer and ninety percent of the cases of genital warts. It is administered in three doses over a six-month period. The vaccine is most effective if it is given before females become sexually active. It is currently recommended that girls be vaccinated at about the ages of eleven or twelve. The vaccine can be safely administered to girls as young as nine, and women as old as twenty-six years of age. Investigations are currently being done to find out if the vaccine is safe and effective to administer to boys and young men.

If a woman is pregnant, then she should not be given the HPV vaccine; rather, she should wait until the baby is born and then take the vaccine. There are times, however, when the woman does not find out that she is pregnant until after beginning the treatment. If the individual has already starred taking the vaccine before she finds out that she is pregnant, then she should stop the treatment until after the birth of her baby.

More and more young females are becoming sexually active at a younger age in this day and time. This is why it is important for them to get the HPV vaccine, before they ever begin to have sex. There is sometimes the misconception that condoms will provide protection from the HPV virus. This is not always true. The virus is spread by having contact with infected skin and condoms do not cover the entire portion of the areas that could be infected; therefore leaving the door open to infection. Taking the vaccine offers far more protection from the HPV virus.