Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Should You Get Your Teenagers Vaccinated?

This is a sponsored post.

Vaccines are not just for young children. I've already written about how homeschoolers are required to maintain their child's immunization record, now I want to take a moment to encourage those of you who are Latina moms and/or have older children, to talk to your doctor about vaccines for preteens and teenagers.

Do you have an 11 to 18 year old? If so, it may be time for a booster shot to update any childhood vaccines that may have weakened. In addition, as kids get older, they are more at risk for catching certain diseases, like meningococcal meningitis, so they need the protection that specific vaccines provide. Remember that vaccines are designed to work WITH a body's healthy immune system to protect it from certain diseases. The bodies of most older children and adults can use vaccines effectively.

But the most important thing I want to do in this post, is encourage you to get your children the HPV vaccine. The rate of cervical cancer is two- to three-times higher among Latinas.  The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine protects against the types of HPV that cause most cervical cancers. It also protects against HPV types that cause most genital warts, as well as the HPV types that cause anal cancer. So both boys AND girls should receive this vaccine around the ages of 11 and 12.

To learn more about vaccinations for preteens and teens, take a look at this article from the CDC.

We can't always protect our niños from the dangers in this world. But this is one area where we as parents have the power to keep our children safe.

Con mucho cariño...

Disclosure: I was compensated for writing this post. However, I am very passionate about the health of our children and all opinions expressed in this article are completely my own.


  1. I am so surprised that there are 0 comments! I was actually a bit taken aback by your trust in all things suggested about vaccines including the HPV vaccines that don't even have any long term research done on them yet because they are so new. I also am of the opinion that if we start telling our 11 years olds (!!!)that they need to be vaccinated against something they can catch by having sex, what is it exactly we are communicating to them??? That we don't have faith that they will behave themselves, be decent, pure as children? I will not make it seem like my son is incapable of containing himself and behaving according to God's Word and trusting the Holy Spirit to guide him along all of life's temptations. Even my friends who think it is just fine to hand their children condoms and do not share my belief system know that it is all too soon to blindly trust the medical community to fully disclose all the risks and honestly admit they don't have all the facts yet. I went along with all the vaccine guidelines when parenting my first son as I very naively trusted everything the doctors pushed in my face and I praise God that he is smart and ahead of the game developmentally. With my second son we delayed the vaccines a bit but still at 9 months after receiving a vaccine he was a different child; things he had done for months he no longer did, loving the swings til this day at almost five he can't stand them or any fast movement and luckily after stopping all vaccines all together he is mostly perfect but I will always wonder if I had trusted my gut and some alternate research what kind of kid he might be...and PS he was exclusively BF and extensively BF it didn't make a difference.

  2. I love the info you put out on raising children bi-lingual and teaching them in both languages but I'm disappointed that you chose to put out a blanket statement about something that has nothing to do with either of those topics because someone saw an easy way to push an agenda by paying you a little cash...

  3. Thank you both for taking the time to comment and share your opinions. I knew this topic would ellicit some response.

    Anonymous, I am so sorry for the trouble you had with your son's vaccinations. It sounds like you made a wise decision. As I mentioned in my previous post, I think parents should research and do what they think is right for their children. I'm not going to tell anyone that they are right or wrong to vaccinate their child. I simply shared what worked for us, so that parents would realize that they do have an alternative to what the doctors recommend and/or expect.

    That said, I want to make it very clear that Latinas have the highest rates of cervical cancer of all groups of women and are also more likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Hispanic whites. This is a fact and not something I've made up.

    Should we expect our children to abstain from sex before marriage? Absolutely. Should we talk to them about being responsible? Yes. But what happens if they marry someone who has made mistakes? And not all parents raise their children in a responsible manner. I know a lot of Latino families (mine included) where sex was not discussed. So I do think it is important to share the information about on the HPV vaccine. A teenager's health immune system is much more capable of using the vaccine as it is intended wihtout the side effects that may or may not be seen in children.

    Sandroandeliza, I want you to know that I am very picky about what sponsorships I accept. I don't accept those that have nothing to do with education, or the empowerment and well-being(emotional and physical health included) of our children, because I believe that our job as teachers and parents is to be concerned about the whole child... not just the student.

    Thank you both so much for your comments.

  4. I appreciate the information and statistics you shared. It's important to be aware of a variety of information, so that you can then decide what is best for your children and family. I did not know that the rate of cervical cancer is higher amongst Latinas. It's definitely something to consider. Thanks for sharing!

  5. Having three women with cancer in my family circle and knowing that Latinas have greater risks of cervical cancer, I find it encouraging that there are vaccines available now. At least we have a choice now.

    Thanks for sharing this info.



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