HPV vaccine question

[SapphireDreams 71]

Did you pay for them all at once or is it possible as some have said...to get the 1st and only pay for that?

I'm pretty sure you pay one at a time. I'm going next week to get my first one so I can let you know. I think they are refridgerated so you buy one at a time and then bring them with you to the Dr. office.

[to_hope 0]

Hi- this is my first post, but I just read about this requirement and had questions to. I emailed our lawyer (we are so blessed to have one) to ask- I'll let you know what she says.

"blessed"?

Seems like a big waste of money imo.

I say blessed because she is giving us her service and time at no cost. She heard our story and wanted to help! So generous.

[Jenni and Bo 0]

Alright, so I do have to have it? I was told I didn't, but I guess it was by other from different countries...

we'll I'm not sure where I'm going to get the money for it...should be interesting *sigh*

Jen

[TheATeam 0]

If you are under 27 years old, you will have to have it. That is the word from both Vancouver and Montreal consulates. It's unfortunate, but unless you can prove that you are allergic to a component in the vaccine or that you're pregnant, you have to have the vaccine in order to get your visa.

[thetreble 19]

Okay am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?

We are supposed to be checked for vaccinations that we have had for diseases we could potentially get that would be a threat to American society at large. This I totally understand. That is why we get tested for TB, for example. Why are they forcing women to get this vaccine? Should it not be your choice?

Furthermore, I thought that Gardasil was marketed towards like 11-13 year olds? I read this on a website:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends Gardasil for all girls ages 11 or 12 years old. The vaccine is also recommended in girls and women ages 13 through 26 years old who have not already received the vaccine or have not completed all booster shots.

Booster shots? Are those not the shots we get when we are children?

[trailmix 77]

Okay am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?

We are supposed to be checked for vaccinations that we have had for diseases we could potentially get that would be a threat to American society at large. This I totally understand. That is why we get tested for TB, for example. Why are they forcing women to get this vaccine? Should it not be your choice?

Furthermore, I thought that Gardasil was marketed towards like 11-13 year olds? I read this on a website:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends Gardasil for all girls ages 11 or 12 years old. The vaccine is also recommended in girls and women ages 13 through 26 years old who have not already received the vaccine or have not completed all booster shots.

Booster shots? Are those not the shots we get when we are children?

No you aren't the only one Treble, I agree, it shouldn't be mandatory - this is a vaccination that should be given to people who have made an informed decision and want it.

I'm not against the vaccination in general, but why it is being imposed upon new immigrants?

The only possible reason I could think of is that they are the guinea pigs.

Edited October 2, 2008 by trailmix

[Caladan 19]

Okay am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?

We are supposed to be checked for vaccinations that we have had for diseases we could potentially get that would be a threat to American society at large. This I totally understand. That is why we get tested for TB, for example. Why are they forcing women to get this vaccine? Should it not be your choice?

Furthermore, I thought that Gardasil was marketed towards like 11-13 year olds? I read this on a website:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends Gardasil for all girls ages 11 or 12 years old. The vaccine is also recommended in girls and women ages 13 through 26 years old who have not already received the vaccine or have not completed all booster shots.

Booster shots? Are those not the shots we get when we are children?

I think it's ridiculous because I think that mandatory vaccinations should be limited to *public* health matters, and I'm not sure the handful of HPV strains Gardasil might protect against suffices. They don't check and bar men for carrying HPV; they shouldn't be barring women for not getting a vaccine.

(I don't think it's a public health issue, unlike TB, because they don't test men for it, and having HPV is not a bar to admission, so this is just a moneymaker.)

[Sprailenes 47]

Hi- this is my first post, but I just read about this requirement and had questions to. I emailed our lawyer (we are so blessed to have one) to ask- I'll let you know what she says.

"blessed"?

Seems like a big waste of money imo.

I say blessed because she is giving us her service and time at no cost. She heard our story and wanted to help! So generous.

Well aren't you just special.

Didn't realize 'generous' and 'lawyer' could go together.

Edited October 2, 2008 by Sprailenes

[TheATeam 0]

I think it's absolutely ridiculous myself. They're marketing it especially towards girls 11-13 because the chance that they'll have had sexual contact and have been exposed to HPV is low, supposedly. That being said, it's a shot that every woman should have up to the age of 26 if they haven't had more than 3 partners. I still think that it should be an option and not mandatory. It's ridiculous that something should be forced on you because of your age. The proof that it is just a money maker is that the maker of the drug recently tried to have it approved for use in women up to 45 (? I think it was somewhere around this age.) The FDA said no. Next they're going to try to have it approved for boys and change the marketing from saying that it protects against cervical cancer to another kind of cancer. ~sighs~ It's all so ridiculous.

Oh...and in regards to booster shots treble...they're saying that they're not sure how long the protection of the three Gardasil shots will last and so someday in the future, boosters will be required. How crazy is that? I think they should know these things before using a vaccine on people.

Edited October 2, 2008 by TheATeam

[Frazell Thomas 0]

I'm not happy about having to have these shots either. An interesting article about this topic was in the Wallstreet Journal yesterday:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122282354408892791.html

"The addition of Gardasil as a mandatory vaccine is the result of a 1996 immigration law, which states that any vaccination recommended by the U.S. government for its citizens becomes a must for green-card applicants. After the immunization committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised last year that Gardasil be given to females ages 11 to 26 in the U.S., the recommendation became an automatic requirement for prospective immigrants when the government updated its list of vaccines in July.

However, even some of the CDC physicians and experts who promoted Gardasil in the U.S. say they never intended to make the vaccine mandatory for young female immigrants."

It's rediculous, but by the time they either remove it from the recommended list, or change that law from 1996 all of us who are required to have it, will have had it, without being given the choice (other than not to immigrate to the States).

[thetreble 19]

ohhh I get it..that is silly. I just think that 25 years old, I better have a damn choice of what I can put into my body. Not to mention most women (although don't quote me on an exact percentage or anything) over the age of 23 or so probably have had 3 or more sexual partners. What are the studies on the effectiveness of this drug?]

What I think is silly though is that I did not have to have this vaccine as someone who came here as a visitor, married and filed for AOS so why should any one on a K-1?

Edited October 2, 2008 by thetreble

[Izoom 0]

I wonder if someone could argue that case...

Certain immigrants or methods of entering the country allow you to bypass the vaccine, whereas a minority group

MUST get the vaccine or they will be denied entry. Doesn't that seem illegally selective to anyone? Granted, we can't

do much about it right away, but I'm sure with enough complaints that a stink could be raised about this issue.

[TheATeam 0]

Yeah, the really silly thing is, is that in a lot of countries, say Japan for example, if you're on a K1 visa they follow the visa rules and fiances do not have to have the vaccines if they choose not to. They can get them here in the US when they apply for AOS. That being said, Gardasil, as I understand it, is not required for AOS. The other thing that is crazy also, is that there is not one state that has made Gardasil mandatory. (As far as I know) I find it silly that it's not mandatory for any USC's but it's mandatory for those that immigrate?

Treble- I don't know the statistics as to the percentage of women over 25 who have had more than 3 partners, but from what I've read, if you do have HPV, getting the shot can possibly cause the virus to mutate thusly causing cervical cancer. What if you knew that you had HPV but you needed to get the shot to immigrate? Could you do it knowing the shot might possibly cause cancer? I suppose some people could. People smoke all the time knowing it could give them cancer. Just something to ponder I guess.

[TheATeam 0]

Hey...look what I just found on msnbc.com. It's an article about how green card applicants need the HPV shot to get their green cards now!

Green card applicants must get HPV vaccine

[trailmix 77]

I saw this article in the Orlando Sentinel this morning:

Green-card applicants must get HPV vaccine

Anabelle Garay | The Associated Press

October 3, 2008

DALLAS - A new requirement that girls as young as 11 be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus before they can become legal U.S. residents is unfair, immigration advocates say.

The federal rule added Gardasil to the list of vaccinations that female immigrants ages 11 to 26 must get before they can obtain green cards.

The series of three shots over six months protects against the strains of the human papillomavirus blamed for most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts. But the vaccine is one of the most expensive and controversial.

"This is a huge economic, social and cultural barrier to immigrants who are coming into America," said Tuyet Duong, senior staff attorney for the Immigration and Immigrant Rights Program at the Asian American Justice Center.

At a cost of $400, Gardasil places an added burden on green-card applicants already paying more than $1,000 in form fees and hundreds of dollars for mandatory medical exams, advocates say.

The mandate potentially affects tens of thousands of women and girls annually. More than 200,000 women and girls ages 10 to 29 were granted legal permanent resident status each of the past two years.

Efforts to require the vaccine for American girls has stirred emotional debate and complaints that such mandates intrude on family decisions about sex education.

In Texas, lawmakers last year fought off an order by Gov. Rick Perry requiring the shots for sixth-grade girls amid questions about vaccine's safety, efficacy and cost. Only Virginia has signed such a mandate into law.

Edited October 3, 2008 by trailmix