“I know that what time I have left really needs to be devoted to raising awareness of the fact that my condition could have been avoided.”
— Michael Becker (CBS This Morning, Feb. 24, 2018)
If you could give your child a 2-shot series of a vaccine, one that has been proven to be safe and effective in preventing the infection that causes common cancers which develop in both adult women (cervical) and men (oral/throat), would you give your consent? With only about 43% of eligible American teenagers having completed the HPV vaccination (see last week’s PediaBlog post for more on this), perhaps the better question might be why wouldn’t you? The video below brings this point home.
Make sure your tweens and teens are completely vaccinated against this common sexually transmitted cancer before they become sexually active. If you have concerns about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, or of the timing in which it is given, talk it over with your board certified pediatrician.
*** Beginning January 22, 2018, Pediatric Alliance and some our pediatric colleagues from around the United States are participating in an AAP-sponsored immunization advocacy campaign on social media. Please follow all our social media posts during this project on Facebook and Twitter.