Apparently, I'm an uptight knitter...

Exactly! That or singing will help me.

Higs, Katherine

Katherine spun a FINE 'yarn':

I do THAT, too! (there's a TV commercial for the vaccinne for Cervical cancer, where girls are jumping rope double-dutch and singing o-n-e-l-e-s-s, I DO things like that!) (course, not while jumping rope anymore, and if I did, it'd be double-irish, LOL!) Hugs, Noreen

Goodness Noreen, I didn't realise they'd advertise the cervical cancer vaccine. It's only just been licensed over here, and there's all sorts of fuss about it, with it being really expensive, something like £400 for a course. Mind you when they do introduce it I expect it'll be bedlam with giving it to all and sundry for a while.

Love & higs Christine

Christine in Kent, Garden of England spun a FINE 'yarn':

It all started last year wtih the "Tell Someone" ad campaign, then in August, when the Vaccine became available, they've REALLY advertised it. As a cervical cancer survivor, and with Kelley being dysplasic as well, it's a subject very near and dear to my heart! They're telling us here that it's only for girls/women age 14 to 26, which lets both my girls OUT, they're older-n-that.... Hugs, Noreen (PS, 400 is still cheaper than the alternative, yes????)

Vintage Purls spun a FINE 'yarn':

According to the reports I've been following, regular pap exams are still necessary (a necessary 'evil', grin??), inthat the vaccine has isolated 7 of the known eleven viruses known to precurser human papoloma virus. ..... Noreen

I remember the rubella shots, too, although I still ended up getting it! (as did mother and my sister, all vaccinated. Dad, who was never vaccinated, never got it!, go figure!)

$400 very well spent in my opinion! It's interesting that there has been some discussion about people not wanting their young daughters to get it because it somehow exposes them to "adult" concepts we don't want them to have. When I was in Primary School (about 10 years old) all the girls were lined up to get their Rubella shots. Boys didn't get it because it's really only a serious problem during pregnancy - well I can assure you none of us even knew how you got pregnant let alone were thinking about doing it and a jab in the arm didn't do anything to make us curious! Hopefully one day the vacination for cervical cancer will be routine and free.

Does having this vaccine mean that you can avoid some of the unpleasant testing that women experience now? That's worth $400 alone in my book. :)

VP

But it isn't specifically an anti CANCER vaccine, it's more about the human papillomavirus, HPV, isn't it?

Mary

Agreed Noreen, any amount of money is better than even one case of cervical cancer. The arguments rage about if the NHS can afford it. Meantime the well-off are getting it privately for their daughters. Doesn't seem fair somehow

Love & higs Christine

What's interesting, VP is that it's only now that all children get rubella vaccine (as part of MMR) that congenital rubella syndrome is becoming much rare, because of course the boys were a largeish pool of infection to give rubella to their pregnant mums. Me, I'm all for immunising anything that moves against anything that there's a vaccine for!!

It seems that eventually there will be less need for Pap smears, although the vaccine only protects against some of the strains of HPV, albeit the ones most linked with cervical cancer. There also seems to be an argument for giving it to boys too, as they can of course pass on HPV to their partners. We'll have to wait and see how it pans out, meantime we're not giving it at all until someone decides who's paying for it

Love & higs Christine

That's right Mary, but some strains of HPV have been proved to make the development of cervical cancer more likely, and the vaccine works against at least some of the most virulent, as far as I'm aware (got a study session about it all at the end of the month, might now a bit more about it then!)

Love & higs Christine

A programme on Radio 4 tonight was about NIHCE.

One of the representatives put the question:

If there were a pill which cost 1p and ensured that a patient lived another

Of course you would.

If there were a pill which cost £30,000 and ensured that a patient might live another 3 months, would you approve it for NHS use?

OK, where would you draw the line?

I have breast cancer and my husband has prostate cancer and I don't believe that ANYamount of money is better than one case of cervical cancer. Or any cancer. Or any condition.

We often hear it said that if one life is saved it'd worth the cost.

If you take that to its logical end there would be no cars on the road ...

Yes but the vaccine is not a cancer vaccine. It protects against HPV.

All sorts of things have been proved to make the development of cervical cancer more likely, including having several sexual partners with no protection.

Mary

There is a tv ad campaign going on here about the vaccine. The theme is being "One Less" -- it is aimed primarily at pre-teen girls and their parents. Here, of course, the question is more about making the public aware so that they will ask for the vaccine and that they will support adding money to public health budgets to include it for those who can't afford it privately. I don't know how widely it is covered by insurance or preventive health plans. Several state legislatures are looking at mandating it for sixth grade girls and providing the money for public health agencies to administer it. West Virginia is one - and I hear there are several others. I don't know that our state legislature has considered it. (We already mandate a number of vaccinations for children in public schools or day cares- there are procedures for exceptions.)

Mary, I have heard that too. I remember about 15 years ago experts in the medical profession saying that a girl has a far higher chance of developing cervical cancer if she becomes sexually active before the age of 17. I haven't heard any more on that since then though.

Well you will get plenty of information from Christine as she is a Practice Nurse.

Hmm, this is motivating. I wonder if we dyslexics can do it (dyslexics of the world untie!) Madelaine

Madelaine spun a FINE 'yarn':

Soitenly! shuH, Noreen