HPV vaccine

[Erin-Rose-x]

Why can't pregnant girls have it?

[ummmm]

Because they are pregnant...

[LazyGun]

As a matter of good medical practice,the precautionary principle is routinely adopted to ensure maximal safety to the developing foetus.Medical interventions not directly associated with the pregnancy itself or for critical medical issues of the mother are therefore not recommended.

The HPV vaccine falls into this category. Futher, although animal studies, human studies, human clinical trials and ongoing vaccine surveillance programmes indicate there is no known risk to either mother or foetus from the vaccine, pregnant women have been, for the reasons cited above, specifically excluded from cliinical trials etc, so there is little data directly attributable to pregnant women.

Best advice is to wait until after the birth of the baby, then go back when feeling up to it ;)

[karenmac60]

I thought the whole point of giving it to younger girls was to ensure (as much as possible) to give it before they became sexually active. It was my understanding that there was little point giving it later as they may have already been exposed to the virus.

[LazyGun]

Thats perfectly true karen. Just because someone is pregnant however, does not automatically mean they will have encountered the HPV. Much of the calculation of whether it worth having is dependent upon age, sexual activity etc. I was merely responding to the specific reasons why the HPV vaccine is not given during pregnancy.

Current thinking regarding the benefits of the vaccine are that it would be most effective for girls between 10-14. It has been argued that if you are really serious about eradicating HPV, you should be vaccinating boys too, but that is not part of the UK programme, largely on a cost/benefit analysis.