Yes, vaccinated, as an Aspie, my DD is more vulnerable than other girls because she wants to make friends but is socially awkward. She tends to let emotionally needy boys into her life, which we then have to advise her to push away when they start stalking her on campus (she is in college, 2nd year). Getting stuck in an uncomfortable and dangerous situation is a reality for some SN kids. I could easily see it happening to my daughter so have run her through self-defense classes, have advised her on security issues, have given her a rape siren to attach to her backpack, etc. So of course she got the vaccine. Yes, she's a virgin but she's emotionally 12 years old and is too vulnerable.

Anonymous wrote:Yes polio and hpv are not the same in terms of diseases, which is the very point. A polio vaccine prevents polio. Your child wil still need to get screened for cervical cancer even after the HPV vaccine, so why open yourself to additional risk of a vaccine that has already had so many side effects. And our special needs kids have more fragile immune systems so who knows how they will react to that vaccine.

Your kid with SN may have a more fragile immune system but mine don't.

people with special needs have sex too, you know.

And the reason the vaccine is given by 12 is that it's more effective at that age. And also because some people are sexually active or sexually abused at a young age, sadly. Some of these vaccines, like Hep B are recommended because of the risk of sexual abuse. Special needs kids are not any less at risk.

Apparently pretty much everyone has HPV these days. It can lay dormant in the body for years and not be detected (in terms of symptoms or screening tests).

Anonymous wrote:Yes polio and hpv are not the same in terms of diseases, which is the very point. A polio vaccine prevents polio. Your child wil still need to get screened for cervical cancer even after the HPV vaccine, so why open yourself to additional risk of a vaccine that has already had so many side effects. And our special needs kids have more fragile immune systems so who knows how they will react to that vaccine.

This makes it sound like the goal of the vaccine is to prevent having to get screened for cancer, as opposed to preventing cancer.

I'd much rather get my child screened for cervical cancer and be found not to have it, than to be screened and be found to have it. The HPV vaccine makes it more likely that I'll get that wish.