Georgia Coastal Health District

Say YES to protecting your daughter against cervical cancer by making sure she gets the HPV vaccine. This is a safe and effective vaccine given in a series of 3 shots over about a six month period. If your daughter is age 11 years or older, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) recommends you vaccinate now to protect her against cervical cancer. Already, 35 million doses of HPV vaccine have been distributed across the country–but that is not enough.

About 20 million people, most in their late teens and early 20s, are infected with HPV, the type of virus that causes cervical cancer. That’s why it’s important to protect preteen and teen girls early through vaccination.
“We have an entire generation of girls we could protect against cervical cancer,” says Dr. Anne Schuchat, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “What most parents might not realize is that while cervical cancer might not be a household name, every year 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 4,000 die. If we can protect girls now, we could drastically reduce these numbers.”
You can use any visit, like an appointment for a camp or sports physicals, to ask your doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or clinic about the shots your kids need. When you go in for your daughter’s first shot of HPV vaccine, don’t leave without making an appointment for the next shot. Ask the doctor’s office or pharmacy to send you a text, email, or phone reminder. Involve your daughters in a reminder system–they probably know how to set up an electronic reminder better than you do!
Many parents don’t realize that vaccines don’t end once your child starts school–preteens and teens still need vaccines. As they get older, girls and boys are at increased risk for some infections. Also, the protection provided by some childhood vaccines begins to wear off.
There are three vaccines recommended for preteens starting at age 11-12, including Tdap (the tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis vaccine), HPV vaccine, and meningococcal vaccine. Preteens and teens should also get a flu vaccine, which is recommended for everyone 6 months of age and older, every year. If you have an older kid like a teen, it’s not too late to get shots they’ve missed. HPV vaccine requires more than one dose. That’s where some parents get bogged down–it’s easy to get very busy with school, activities, work, and all of the juggling that parents of preteens and teens do every day.
There is assistance for families that may need help paying for vaccines. If you don’t have insurance, or if it does not cover vaccines, the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program may be able to help. This program provides vaccines at no cost to doctors who serve eligible children. Children younger than 19 years of age are eligible for VFC vaccines if they are Medicaid-eligible, American Indian or Alaska Native, or have no health insurance.
Like millions of moms and dads across the country, you can protect your daughters from cervical cancer.
For more information, visit the CDC web site just for you: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/teens