It’s certainly weird that today’s young people aren’t fucking when we were going nuts during the AIDS epidemic
I am certainly not normal enough to represent anyone else here, but while not HIV, I do fear HPV (the sexually-transmitted strains).
My parents did not get me vaccinated against it when it would have been covered by insurance, because… because.
So, some quick overview from my mind which you shouldn’t trust as a source of information: Often marketed as something to protect women from cervical cancer, thus being reduced to “the vaccine for girls”. That’s often the view of public even now that it is also recommended to boys, which wasn’t always the case. Even then, the reason often ended up being not spreading HPV onto women. People being stupid -> Either “I have a boy, so it doesn’t matter.” or “I raised my girl well, she won’t need it.”
Well anyway, for men, throat cancer, anal cancer and penile cancer sound pretty relevant.
Speaking of penile cancer, yesterday I came across photo of a man who got large cancerous growth on his trunk as a result of HPV, and had to undergone penectomy (i.e. bye dickie), plus the radiation therapy went wrong causing large burns.
All in all, basically a cancer vaccine, only effective if you didn’t come into contact with HPV, which most sexually active people do, also why it’s typically only given to kids.
So, moving on, Gardasil-9 protects against 9 high-risk strains. Doesn’t sound like a bad idea even if you had sex, likely you haven’t collected all 9 yet. But certainly best before.
So, 3 doses, 2nd after 2, 3rd after 6 months. I think they take around a month to become effective, so I guess 7 months for total vaccination. Paid by patient, almost 400 EUR for all 3 doses as far as I could find in my country.
So, not like I could get any regardless, but safer sex would cost me 7 months of waiting and almost 400 EUR while I am about to start college and make 4.70 EUR per hour. And it cannot be fully done retroactively. It’s also good to have saved some money. If my laptop or phone breaks, I need a replacement immediately (and I sure as fuck want another convertible ThinkPad).
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Whoa. As an American who got the Gardasil vaccine for free in my 20s, this feels really weird. Paying for preventive medicine sounds like something I’d expect around here. I was in the notoriously-backwards state of Florida and had already been sexually active for several years, yet the vaccine was still covered for me.
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
So I checked it to be more precise.
I only found price mentioned in forum by Benu pharmacy employee from 2023, stating 123.50 EUR per dose. So 370.50 in this case.
For people aged 12 - 14, this is fully paid. 18 and up, fuck you.
15 - 17, depends on the insurance company.
But again, as an adult, no luck.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That absolutely sucks. Though thinking about it, the vaccine had only just come out when I was already an adult. It’s possible I was “grandfathered in” because the opportunity wasn’t there when I was younger.
Yet there are so many kids with anti-vaxxer parents, it doesn’t seem right to deny the opportunity to young adults who finally have the chance to make their own health decisions. It’s such bullshit how much power insurance companies wield, despite them knowing far less than a patient’s own doctor knows.