Introduction
HPV is the designation given to a group of pretty prevalent viruses. There are many different forms of HPV, some of which are considered “high risk” because they have been related to cervical cancer, anal cancer, genital cancers, and head and neck cancers. Other kinds can create warts or verrucas, among other things. More than 99 per cent of cervical malignancies have high-risk HPV strains. There is also a link between HPV and various anal and genital malignancies and cancers of the head and neck. HPV infections seldom create symptoms, and most people are unaware they are afflicted.
HPV strains transmit through sexual contact and are linked to the majority of cervical cancer occurrences. Gardasil 9 is an HPV vaccination that has been authorized by the United States Food and Drug Administration for both girls and boys. If administered before girls or women are exposed to the virus, this vaccination can prevent most incidences of cervical cancer. This vaccination can also help to prevent cancers of the vaginal and vulvar regions. In addition, the vaccination can protect women and men from genital warts, anal cancers, and mouth, throat, head, and neck cancers. Vaccinating males against the strains of HPV linked to cervical cancer might theoretically help protect girls from the virus by reducing transmission.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that the HPV vaccine be given to males and females between ages 11 and 12 but they may take it later. The CDC recommends that all 11- and 12-year-olds receive two doses of HPV vaccine at least six months apart. Once someone is infected with HPV, the vaccine might not be as effective, that can be dangerous in older age. The HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine can protect people from some strains of HPV that they already have. Even if they only have one strain of HPV, they could still benefit from the vaccine. None of the vaccines can treat an existing HPV infection.
The most common side effects of the HPV vaccine include soreness, swelling or redness at the injection site. Overall, the effects are usually mild. The CDC and the FDA continue to monitor the vaccines for unusual or severe problems. Remaining seated for 15 minutes after the injection can reduce the risk of fainting.
Problem Statement
Being in the military community in enough conservative Texas, I see a problem with HPV anti-vaxxers. The natural conservatism of the army complements the already conservative community of the southern state as an institution. Ultimately, this leads not only to social issues but also to hazardous medical problems. Conservative communities of today have a certain distrust of modern invasive medical procedures. The most famous and essential in this matter is the topic of vaccination.
For more than a decade, misinformation has hampered vaccination adoption against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a prevalent sexually transmitted infection that can cause cervical cancer in women. Those who are already vaccination apprehensive are being targeted by publications that have previously spread misinformation about the HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccination is both safe and effective in preventing high-risk types of HPV from causing cervical cancer. However, disinformation about the vaccine causing chronic health problems has harmed HPV vaccination initiatives in Ireland, the United States, Japan, and Denmark.
The core of such emotion-driven deception is personal stories. The HPV Vaccine Side Effects website was started 2010s by an anonymous parents who claims that the HPV vaccine caused their son’s health problems. It now publishes unsubstantiated reports of Covid-19 vaccination adverse effects, depicted on a globe map. The map has been widely circulated on social media, and it has also surfaced in conspiracy media and forums, where the Covid-19 vaccinations are referred to as “poison.”
Background
Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC) are on the rise in the Western world. This is primarily attributable to a subgroup of tumours linked to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Smoking and drinking are risk factors for developing OPSCC, and competing illnesses are a likely cause of mortality in this population. Although individuals with HPV-positive tumours had a better prognosis, little is known about the natural causes of mortality. Cardiopulmonary illnesses were the most prevalent cause of death after the initial malignancy, according to recent research that included 4245 fatalities in 5905 patients treated for OPSCC. Whether and how HPV status and OPSCC treatment’s short-term toxicity affect death is still unknown. Identifying the underlying causes of death in HPV-positive and HPV-negative OPSCC patients can help with follow-up and therapeutic measures optimization. In population-based research, we looked at the causes of death in HPV-positive and HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer patients.
Landscape
Furthermore, studies have shown that HPV seroprevalence is modest (1 percent to 8%) in late adolescence but increases with age, reaching 15 percent to 35 percent by the age of 40 (Nørregaard et al., 2017).
In extremely sexually active populations, such as military personnel, HPV transmission may be increased (Nørregaard et al., 2017).
To put these figures in context, the number of visits to the doctor due to HPV was more than gonorrhea and chlamydia combined (Swingle, 2018).
According to recent research, only 22.5 percent of female AD military members received one or more immunization doses.
How can people hope to find common ground in this situation, much alone be persuasive? Unfortunately, direct pro-vaccination messages may not only be ineffective, but they may even backfire.
The adversarial paradigm that was so effective against the cigarette industry is unlikely to succeed here. Furthermore, no one enjoys being lectured or talked down to, regardless of their opinions’ erroneous.
Options
Rather than combating vaccination disinformation, parents should be informed about the risks of not vaccinating their children.
They may be given photographs of children with mumps and rubella and a letter from a mother of a measles sufferer, which had the best results.
Given the military specificity of the people and the conservative religious views of the inhabitants of Texas, specialized methods of persuasion must be used.
Given the army’s conservatism, exacerbated by religious invasiveness, parents should be convinced of the ineffectiveness of anti-vaxxer views. They themselves, but more dangerously, their children, the future of their country, future soldiers, and parishioners of churches may die, although they could live.
In particular, the military and officer families often significantly influence their communities.
A child’s severe illness or even death is harmful to a public person, significantly if the person could save the child.
The myth that vaccination causes autism is not based on anything (Swingle, 2018).
An example should be given of whether a military man would believe unverified intelligence, risking the lives of his colleagues (Swingle, 2018).
Recommendations
Given the religiosity of the Texas military communities, you should seek help from the local priesthood.
A priest can explain the dangers of the papillomavirus to parents much more quickly than any academician.
A sermon influences religious people incomparably more strongly than an academic lecture on medicine (Swingle, 2018).
It is necessary to coordinate a program of communication and sermons with the priest to explain that this will save his people from such a common disease.
It is critical to delivering medical and educational courses.
Anti-vaxxers must be persuaded that medicine is meant to benefit them, not harm them.
Keep in mind that the anti-vaccination movement is gaining ground and is becoming increasingly deadly.
Illnesses that we believed were long gone are reappearing in our own backyard.
Fortunately, most of them have been contained due to reporting regulations and education about the danger of these infectious diseases.
It should be explained how many families, like those of the anti-vaxxers, have been saved by vaccines, how many children and mothers and how many fathers did not die from papilloma and cancer it causes and from hundreds of other diseases.
Those people must know that vaccines have eradicated a plethora of awful diseases that most of us are not old enough to have physically or visually experienced. Polio, smallpox, yaws, rinderpest, and malaria are all but extinct because of vaccination.
References
Swingle C. A. (2018). How Do We Approach Anti-Vaccination Attitudes?. Missouri medicine, 115(3), 180–181.
Nørregaard, C., Grønhøj, C., Jensen, D., Friborg, J., Andersen, E., & von Buchwald, C. (2017). Cause-specific mortality in HPV+ and HPV− oropharyngeal cancer patients: Insights from a population-based cohort. Cancer Medicine, 7(1), 87–94.