Health News You Can Use : Vaccines. One Less Shot

14 November 2016 By Haylee Williams

There’s at least 10 vaccinations the CDC recommends for youth 7-18 years old. That’s at least 10 shots! Keep in mind some require multiple doses. Eeek so many!

But There’s Good News! The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has now reduced that load by one. That’s right the HPV vaccine can be a two shot deal instead of the previous three.

Wait What Even is HPV?

HPV stands for human papillomavirus
The most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States
There are over 40 types of HPV that an infect the genital areas of both males and females
You can develop symptoms years after getting infected making it hard to know just when you got infected
HPV can cause certain cancers like cervical cancer, or cancers in the throat and on the tongue.

The Bad News? You have got to start early. The CDC recommends having the first vaccine occur at 11-12 years old and the second dose be administered 6 months after the first.

If you start at anytime between 15 to 26 years old you will still need to go through the three dose process. But the outcome is the same, you’ll be protected either way and better late than never!

This Matters Because….

It’s important to get an early start on preventing infections and illnesses. In this case the two dose schedule means one less shot so #win ! Sexual health is so important and arming yourself with the necessary protection to make sure it’s a healthy and safe experience is a benefit to not only yourself but to your partners. Getting the HPV vaccine is an investment in long term healthiness! And to be frank it's best to just get these vaccines out the way so you can spend more time playing pokemon go