Contents
What are the side effects of HPV vaccines?
Vaccines are, like any medicine, very controlled. As part of their marketing authorization, and to supplement the data available from clinical trials, a risk management plan has been put in place at European and national level. This risk management plan makes it possible to detect and analyze any undesirable effect observed under actual conditions of use. This reinforced surveillance did not bring to light any elements calling into question their benefit-risk balance. The main undesirable effects observed are: redness, pain and / or itching at the injection site, peak fever, headache, and more rarely vasovagal syncope justifying the advice to perform the injection in a lying position, and the recommendation to ” medical surveillance for fifteen minutes after the vaccination.
Controversy points to causal links between vaccination and autoimmune diseases. The temporal coincidence of the onset of a disease after vaccination cannot be equated with a causal link. There are no more autoimmune diseases in the group of young girls vaccinated against HPV than in that of unvaccinated young girls. An increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome however, after vaccination against HPV infections appears likely. This undesirable effect is already identified in the product’s Marketing Authorization. The low frequency of this event (1 to 2 cases per 100 girls vaccinated) is not such as to call into question the benefit-risk balance of this vaccination.
When to have your daughter given the vaccine?
It is necessary to vaccinate young girls before they are infected. In addition, scientific data shows that the immune response is better when the vaccine is administered before the age of 15 rather than after. Vaccination against HPV-related infections can be performed during the vaccination appointment for the TcaP booster (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio), scheduled between 11 and 13 years old. If the first dose of the vaccine is given from 11 years old (up to 13-14 years depending on the vaccine), only two doses will be necessary. Otherwise, it will take three doses. In conclusion, vaccination is recommended for all girls from 11 years old and up to 14 years old, and catch-up for young girls from 15 to 19 years old.
Why are there so many refractory to this vaccination in France?
One of the barriers to vaccination against HPV-related infections is the fear of side effects. Yet the profile of vaccine tolerance is satisfactory and is based on monitoring of more than 10 years of marketing, with more than 200 million doses distributed worldwide. We doctors are talking about the benefits / risks. While some anti-vaccines judge only by cases where the product causes a side effect. As a result, some patients are afraid of being sick, as with certain drugs. And vaccination is not compulsory, it is only by communicating that we can change mentalities.