Now that school is back in session across the South Plains, doctors’ offices seem to be a lot quieter without the groups of parents and their children coming through to schedule those back-to-school appointments, and while maybe most parents have gotten all of their child’s vaccines taken care of, there is one in particular they may be putting off: the HPV Vaccine.
The Human Papillomavirus is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that occurs among both men and women. In some cases the infection may go away on its own, in fact, some individuals may not find out for years that they had the infection because they tend to not experience any symptoms.
However, in other cases, where the infection does not go away so easily, it can lead to health complications and even subgroups of cancer, such as cervical, urinary or genital cancer.
Being vaccinated at the right age can help prevent your teen from ever coming into contact with it.
“The ideal age is 11-13, so it’s designed as a vaccine that we want to get into our kids’ systems around puberty, and the idea is to get vaccinated and protected before we ever become sexually active,” said Dr. Nawal Zeitouni, with the Pediatric Associates of Lubbock. “We see 20 – 30,000 cases of new onset cervical cancer a year. This is something we can cure, something we can make a huge impact and fix. It’s as important as getting our flu shot every year.”
Zeitouni does say however, there does tend to be some hesitation amongst parents in regard to getting the shot.
“There’s a lot of stigma associated with it because you’re like, ‘I’m vaccinating my one-year-old for an STD?'” said Zeitouni. “The parent doesn’t really want to talk about it, the fact that its a STD shot, you know? I tell them this a shot to help you prevent you from getting cancer and they’re like, ‘OK.'”
Her advice to parents is that they feel free to ask any questions about the vaccine or virus at their next appointment and to get the shot earlier so that it can work quicker and better throughout the course of their child’s life.
“You need to think about it as cancer prevention, not a STD prevention,” said Zeitouni.
While the recommended age to get the shot is 11-13, the earliest a child can get the HPV vaccine is nine through 27 years of age.
The HPV vaccine is taken in a three-dose series: after the first shot, it is recommended you come back two months later for your second shot. Four months following the second shot, it is recommended you take your third and final dose.
So, although your child should have already received the HPV vaccine by the time they’re entering college, it’s not too late for them to still receive it in addition to the other two shots required of them by the university and state law before going back to campus: their meningitis and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines.
These vaccines however, need to be taken months before the first day of class. It’s required of all freshmen before they kick off their university career.
“When students are admitted into Texas Tech, a registration hold is placed on their account to make sure that they get their Meningitis shot record and the MMR shot records,” said Tim Fox, Clinic Manager of the TTU Student Wellness Center. “So, they’re not actually able to register for classes until we take a look at those, see if they’re valid, and then we remove that hold so they can actually register for classes.”
Dr. Kelly Bennett, the TTU Student Health Services Medical Director, wants to stress the importance of students doing their best to not spread germs while on campus.
“We usually have about 6-7,000 students living on campus. That’s the size of a small town, but it’s within one square mile,” said Dr. Bennett. “So when you have that many people shoved that close together, your chances of having these infectious disease really go up.”
Whether your child is going into middle school or entering college for the first time, the goal remains the same across all age groups: help them to lead a clean and healthy lifestyle this school year.
