On Sunday evening, Ayden Mercimek (9) from Dordrecht discussed it extensively with his mother: cancer in the mouth, in the penis and in the anus. Monday morning they are together in a sports hall in Dordrecht to get a shot against the HPV virus. His mother Bianca is happy that her son is one of the first boys to receive this vaccine. Ayden thinks it’s tough of himself.
On Monday, the first boys – in the year that they turn ten – received the HPV vaccine through the national vaccination program. Previously, this shot was only available for girls. Boys can carry the virus and infect others with it when sexual contact takes place. Although cervical cancer caused by a human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common, the virus can also cause illness and disease in men. More than 1,100 women and nearly 400 men develop cancer each year as a result of HPV infection. According to the RIVM, vaccination can prevent 80 percent of these.
There is a long queue in the vaccination location, a sports hall in Dordrecht-South. Many children run into classmates and stop by to say hello. Employees of the Young JGZ guide parents and children to the injection chair. For those who find the jab exciting, there is a first aider available who helps children calm down.
Tom Driehuizen (12) is not afraid. Last week he had a discussion with a classmate about the HPV vaccine. The boy thinks it’s bullshit. “I don’t want cancer, I said then, so I’ll just take that shot.” His mother Miranda is relieved that her son – after her three daughters – is also being vaccinated. “It’s good that boys can now protect girls and themselves.”
Also read this article: Vaccine protects against cervical cancer
Abroad was earlier
Until recently, many parents did not know that HPV also affects the health of boys. Mahmut Demir, father of Defne (9), finds it strange that this is only now being discussed. “Girls have been vaccinated for years, which is why I also have my daughter vaccinated.” But he doesn’t know yet for his eight-year-old son, who will be called up next year. “What do they know now that they didn’t know then?”
In other European countries such as Germany, Belgium and Norway, boys have been vaccinated against HPV for some time. “When the Netherlands started HPV vaccinations, less was known about the percentage of HPV-related cancers in men,” says Gemma Kenter, former head of oncological gynecology at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital, a hospital that specializes in cancer. “That was initially a lot lower than the number of cervical cancer cases due to HPV.”
The bad thing about that, according to Kenter: “Men who have sex with men are not protected if we only vaccinate women. It was almost never talked about.”
According to Joost Boormans, head of urology at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the fact that the effect of HPV on men receives little attention is also due to a taboo that rests on penile cancer and the associated treatment. In this procedure (part of) the penis is amputated. “That has a huge impact on the man’s self-image and his quality of life. (Former) patients, but also doctors, therefore feel reserved to talk about this publicly.”
The Netherlands started the first HPV vaccination campaign for girls in 2009. The turnout was low. Research by the RIVM showed that, among other things, parents had doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccine and were concerned about possible side effects. The shot was also associated with sex, according to Kenter: “It scared people that their daughters would need the shot. A number of Christian scientists have also shouted: good girls do not need this vaccine.”
380 euros
Dilara Yildirim (26) from Leerdam was whispered at school about the jab: something against a kind of STD. If you took the jab, it was clear that you had sex as a young girl. “In the village there was an atmosphere of: our young daughters don’t need that.” For Yildirim, a lot was also unclear about the effect and effectiveness. She decided not to take the shot. Now she is 26 and she is disappointed. She hears stories of women with troubled cells and would rather have had the shot.
Women over the age of eighteen, who fall outside the national vaccination program, have to pay for the jab themselves. RIVM wants men and women aged 18 to 26 to be vaccinated free of charge. It is not known from when this will be possible. Men and women older than 26 must pay for the shot. That costs at least 380 euros. Yildirim hopes that this jab campaign will start soon: “I will be 27 in October.”
According to Nienke van Trommel, oncological gynaecologist at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek with a focus on cervical cancer, the jab protects best if you are not yet sexually active. “Then the risk of cervical cancer decreases by almost 90 percent. Although the jab has less effect at a later age, it still makes sense to get vaccinated.”
So far, Van Trommel has seen almost no women with cancer in her practice who refused the injection. “The first women to be offered a vaccination will be screened for the first time next year. I think I will meet women who refused the vaccination at the time in the coming years.”
Also read this article: HPV shot: from today also the boys
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