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HPV Vaccination for men

  • 04-11-2016 12:26am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭


    So I've been looking into the HPV vaccine a lot lately. I've gone through almost every site I've come across looking for information on it, but haven't come across much, to be honest. 99% of the information is for girls. I know it's linked to a lot of cancers in men (neck, oral, anal, penile, etc.) and they've been administering it to boys in countries like the UK, US, and Australia.

    What I'm asking is:
    - Has anybody (male) gotten the vaccine in Ireland?
    - Where did you get it? GP? Health Clinic? Hospital?
    - How much did it cost? (I've heard figures from €400 to €1,000)

    As a gay guy, I'm at higher risk for contracting it (even a condom doesn't prevent it) and the lack of information around it is really frustrating. I can't find anything to point me in the right direction or even give a rough cost estimate, so any help is welcome.


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 4,080 ✭✭✭EoghanIRL


    Why are you more at risk if you are gay?
    For HIV infection in Ireland and some other countries afaik heterosexual couples and IVDUs make up a greater amount of the HIV positive population than MSM.

    And some of the cancers you mentioned have very low occurrence rates. Oral squamous cell carcinoma makes up 1-2% of cancers in the U.K etc.. but HPV albeit being a risk factor isn't the main one. Approx 50% of oral sqcs are caused by smoking and alcohol.


  • Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭BsBox


    EoghanIRL wrote: »
    Why are you more at risk if you are gay?
    For HIV infection in Ireland and some other countries afaik heterosexual couples and IVDUs make up a greater amount of the HIV positive population than MSM.

    You're technically right, but only by 1% going on the latest figures. Even then, you can't look at rates of infection and compare the numbers like it's apples to apples. The literal number of straight people living with HIV and STDs is larger (51%), but they also make up ~90% of the population. You've to look at this statistically. Comparing the rate of infections per capita, the MSM population is much higher than those straight people. If you're sexually active, your chances of getting infected are simply higher (especially with HPV, where the use of condoms doesn't protect effectively).
    EoghanIRL wrote: »
    And some of the cancers you mentioned have very low occurrence rates. Oral squamous cell carcinoma makes up 1-2% of cancers in the U.K etc.. but HPV albeit being a risk factor isn't the main one. Approx 50% of oral sqcs are caused by smoking and alcohol.

    I know the actual rates of cancer from HPV isn't high, but it does exist. Part of why I'm looking for some answers on here is so I can find out if getting the vaccine is crazy expensive or not and going from there. If there's a way to get it cheap, it's obviously worth it. If it's €1,000, probably not.
    The thing with vaccinations is that they rely on herd immunity, and when you've got 50+% of the population unvaccinated, and the MSM community offered no protection from it since both partners aren't vaccinated, you're denying men a life free from HPV, and the things that come with it such as genital warts.
    Rosanna Cooney dose a much better job putting the case forward than I am right now in an article for (surprise) Joe.ie

    Also, they've started vaccinating MSM groups in the North.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,813 ✭✭✭Wesser


    Just ask your local
    Pharmacist to get a quotation for you and if you are happy with the price, order it in. You will then need to collect it and bring it straight away to a GP office which has agreed in advance to administer it.
    Any pharmacy especially a big pharmacy chain should have the links with pharma to order this in.

    My understanding is that gay man are mode susceptible to HPV is that the mucosa ( lining ) of the cervix is full of immune cells which fight the virus but the anal mucosa does not . However I'm
    Not 100% sure on this.


  • Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭BsBox


    Wesser wrote: »
    Just ask your local
    Pharmacist to get a quotation for you and if you are happy with the price, order it in. You will then need to collect it and bring it straight away to a GP office which has agreed in advance to administer it.
    Any pharmacy especially a big pharmacy chain should have the links with pharma to order this in.

    My understanding is that gay man are mode susceptible to HPV is that the mucosa ( lining ) of the cervix is full of immune cells which fight the virus but the anal mucosa does not . However I'm
    Not 100% sure on this.

    Cheers. I was thinking I could try a pharmacy but wasn't sure if that was a ridiculous thing to ask for in there or not. I guess it's a start anyway and they could point me in the right direction.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 2,881 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kurtosis


    Worth keeping in mind that if one is infected with one HPV subtype, that the vaccine will not be effective against that subtype (hence why the HSE's vaccination schedule is for young girls). The vaccine will offer protection against the other HPV subtypes included in it.

    Most guidelines suggest vaccination ideally by age 14 or up to the age of 26. This seems to be based on the ages of participants in clinical trials. There's some information (from the US) available here: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/infectious-agents/hpv-vaccine-fact-sheet


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  • Registered Users Posts: 945 ✭✭✭mountai


    Just because you get HPV vaccination , does not mean that you are protected from Cancer. I would suggest that you research thoroughly before getting same. I would suggest you look up REGRET.IE and see the amount of damage this vaccine has done to the young female population of this country. Before anyone says that that site is "Anti Vaccine" , it should be pointed out that every single one of the parents of these children consented to their child getting the vaccine , so that is a dumb accusation. BTW there is in excess of 400 registered children in this organisation .


  • Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭BsBox


    mountai wrote: »
    Just because you get HPV vaccination , does not mean that you are protected from Cancer. I would suggest that you research thoroughly before getting same. I would suggest you look up REGRET.IE and see the amount of damage this vaccine has done to the young female population of this country. Before anyone says that that site is "Anti Vaccine" , it should be pointed out that every single one of the parents of these children consented to their child getting the vaccine , so that is a dumb accusation. BTW there is in excess of 400 registered children in this organisation .

    I'm aware that it's not something that's going to stop me getting cancer. That isn't the only problem HPV can cause though.
    I'm also well aware of REGRET, but the statistics and science don't hold up against their claims.

    I suggest you give this article a read. They did a great job in collecting and summarising all the information from various studies on the vaccine.

    Here's a excerpt,
    "One of the 2014 meta-analyses mentioned above evaluated a 2013 study of almost one million 10-17 year-old girls in Denmark and Sweden.
    It found no difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated girls in the rate of what have been claimed to be serious adverse effects – various autoimmune and neurological conditions, as well as venous thromboembolism (VTE), which includes deep vein thrombosis.
    Another study from 2014 analysed 42 completed or ongoing clinical trials of Cervarix and found that the rates of symptoms were almost identical between vaccinated and control groups.
    In fact, the rates of “medically significant conditions” and “serious adverse events” were slightly lower among the vaccinated groups, not that any particular conclusion should be drawn from that.
    This summary of nine separate studies involves research into possible associations between HPV vaccines and a wide range of conditions and symptoms, including serious ones like stroke, appendicitis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome, an immune disorder that causes weakness and even paralysis, and has been claimed to be caused by HPV vaccination.
    In almost all cases, the research found no difference between vaccinated and control groups in the prevalence of the conditions, with the exception of temporary problems like fainting and skin irritation."


  • Registered Users Posts: 945 ✭✭✭mountai


    BsBox

    Sorry that I cant help you on pricing the HPV vaccine . You have obviously done your research and have decided that the vaccine is for you . Best of luck for the future , in no way would I try to persuade you to change your mind.


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