Smart Woman: HPV Vaccine
By: Maxine Ridling
Updated: October 15, 2012
Now a new study, published in this week's edition ofPpediatrics, finds that vaccinating children at ages 11 and 12 did not increase sexual activity in young girls. Researchers looked at the number of pregnancies; sexually transmitted infections and contraceptive use and counseling in more than 13,000 11 and 12 year old girls, they followed them up to three years after the pre-teens got their vaccines and found no significant increase in any of these sexual activities. The authors note while having sex at an early age, with multiple partners are risk factors for getting the HPV infection their study is the first to find that getting vaccinated does not modify these young girls' sexual behavior.


