Tiktok has a video where a woman speaks directly to the camera. They promote “natural remedies” that they say cleared the infection and discussed the “overall healing” recommendations. On Facebook, moms will discuss whether the vaccine could damage a child’s reproductive health. And in the tweets, people share claims about side effects on shots.
They’re all talking about HPV, or human papillomavirus. This is the most common sexually transmitted disease, but it can also be prevented thanks to the vaccine Gardasil-9. However, online, misinformation is ramping about vaccines. Vaccines are also known for their historical decline in cancer.
Dannell Boatman, an assistant professor at West Virginia University School of Medicine, said the goal is to “inoculate” people to the facts and misinformation around the vaccine. Research suggests that HPV vaccines have the most misinformation of any vaccine.
“We know it affects health behavior,” Boatman, who studied the misinformation of HPV vaccines on Facebook’s Tiktok and X, told USA Today. “We have to take the time to understand a specific message, story, and ongoing conversation.”
Here’s what you need to know about HPV, vaccines, and claims you may encounter when scrolling through feeds:
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What is HPV?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 13 million people, including teenagers, will get infected with HPV every year. Most people get HPV, but the majority show no signs or symptoms.
Our immune system tends to remove infections before symptoms appear. However, HPVs can exist as warts. According to Mayo Clinic, they can be in the area of the genitals, hands or fingers, heels of the feet, or the beard area for children, women’s legs.
According to Washington University Medicine, the virus spreads through skin contact, not through body fluids. The virus can only live on certain cells on the skin surface or soft tissue of the body’s canals and organs, the American Cancer Society said.
Of the over 200 HPV strains, approximately 40 can spread through anal, oral, or vaginal gender. According to the National Cancer Institute, dozens of all strains cause cancer. These are most associated with neck, vagina, penis, anal and head and neck cancers.
According to the CDC, HPV causes approximately 36,000 cancers in men and women each year. Routine screening helps prevent cancer, and vaccines aim to stop cancer before it spreads.
What is the HPV vaccine?
Vaccines target viruses that cause cancer in most cases. It’s for both boys and girls.
The vaccine distributed in Gardasil-9 in the US targets nine types of HPV. Vaccination can prevent more than 90% of cancers caused by HPV.
Since the introduction of the previous Gardasil 4 vaccine in 2006, the CDC said that HPV strain infections have occurred, causing most cancers and genital warts to cause 88% in teenage girls and 81% in young adult women. Ta. Between 2012 and 2019, the incidence of cervical cancer among women aged 20 to 24 years has decreased by 65%, according to a report from the American Cancer Society. Furthermore, fewer teens and young adults get genital warts as a result of vaccination.
“This vaccine is well known to be very safe, very safe, very effective, especially against strains that cause cancer in HPV,” says Massgeneral Hospital for said Dr. Marc Grella, pediatrician at Children Hospital.
The CDC said more than 135 million vaccines are distributed in the United States.
The myth of infertility spreads online
The vaccine is recommended for most people who start on their 15th birthday with two doses before their 15th birthday, according to the CDC. The first dose can start at age 9.
Research suggests that prior vaccinations around the age of nine provide longer immunity, Grela said. It also helps to spread the daily childhood vaccines. Adults can usually take the vaccine at three doses.
On Facebook, a common myth is that it leads to infertility among children. Grela often hears this in his exam room. But that’s not the case.
However, according to Irene Lind, a practitioner of pediatric tumor nurses at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute, HPV infection from one of the 12 cancerous strains of the virus that could affect fertility is It is a cancer that arises from.
Many people don’t have side effects from the vaccine, but some have sore arms for the shot, the CDC said.
With any vaccine, some people can feel dizzy or faint, which is more common in adolescents, Grela said. Adolescents are more likely to feel anxious before a vaccine, and feel at ease, their heart rate increases, and sometimes faint.
If that’s so safe, why are there few young people getting vaccinated?
Online videos promoting holistic HPV treatments accumulate hundreds of thousands of views, so you have to wonder why this type of content exists. After all, there are safe and effective vaccines. But some people have not refused.
CDC data released in August found lower HPV vaccination coverage by the age of 13. Grela said the cause behind this is difficult to explain, but the Covid-19 pandemic may have delayed regular visits to doctors. HPV vaccines may not be as high on the list of priority protections, despite their benefits compared to other vaccinations.
Additionally, online debates in several litigation have gained traction.
The ongoing lawsuit alleges that Merck has not fully disclosed serious, long-term side effects. The conditional plaintiff claims to have received from the vaccine is Posture Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Chronic disorders manifest as dizziness or fainting after a person stands up, after which a decrease in blood volume returns to the heart, followed by a rapid increase in the heartbeat. It mainly affects women aged 15-50.
The federal vaccine adverse event reporting system has received 342 reports of pots, but this does not mean the vaccine caused the condition. Subsequent federal reports found that pots are rarely reported after vaccination, and continuous surveillance has not detected safety concerns related to HPV vaccination, the CDC said in an email. .
In a statement, Merck continues to conclude that the HPV vaccine is safe and effective, similar to 30 years of research, Merck said. The clinical trial includes more than 70,000 people with follow-up monitoring for up to 14 years after vaccination. Globally, nearly 400 million people have been vaccinated against HPV in some way, Merck said.
And the vaccine can save lives, said Lind of Dana Farmer. Lind founded Team Maureen, a nonprofit organization, in honor of her sister, who passed away in 2006 after a recurrence of cervical cancer. Maureen was 37 years old. She left her two children and her high school boyfriend, Mike.
Lind said, “There are things other people can do” to keep him from losing his siblings. Vaccines are one of them.