My oldest son is 11 and his doctor tried to get me to give it to him. I did some research and found that at the time this was being pushed on us, it had been released for use in boys only 2 weeks before, which was a huge red flag for me. Then when I considered that there were so many complications and deaths for girls, that was another one. Finally, the idea that there's only 10 years of research behind it. 10 years isn't enough for me. That's not enough to really know whether it would have any effect on their ability to father children in the future, or if it could cause any other kinds of cancers, or who knows what other problems. Plus, if I remember what I read correctly, it's only good for X number of years and there's no booster shot - so why take all that risk for something that won't even give lifelong protection anyway? My son also said he didn't want it, so I said no, pissed off his doctor royally.
Answer by
wendythewriter
at 5:47 PM on Jan. 30, 2013
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Kids' Health 101