Vaccines, Used Condoms, & Giraffes on Birth Control (Oh My?)
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Sex on Wednesday! As I tell my students, sex is always in the news. Even in a week like this one which has been flooded with minute-by-minute accounts of Trump’s oxygenation rates, ego-boosting joy rides, and asinine assertions that he’s all better and Covid-19 is nothing to worry about. (That’s Not How It F*&*#ing Works, but I digress.) Sex is part of stories about politics, health, education, and entertainment, and it can be difficult to keep up. I hope this newsletter helps you stay informed, provides useful commentary and analysis, and offers a few funny distractions from this year of too many plot twists and too much fifth grade math.
HPV Vaccination Rates are Up, But Still Too Low
A study published in the October issue of Pediatrics found that HPV vaccination rates have gone up in the last few years, particularly for boys, but they remain far short of the 80% goal set by Healthy People 2020.
Researchers looked at the medical records of almost 8 million children who were covered by commercial health insurance. The proportion of 15-year-old girls in the study who had been given at least one dose of the HPV vaccine increased from 38% in 2011 to 57% in 2017. The increase was even more dramatic among boys over the same time period—from just 5% to 51%. The proportion of insured young people who had received the recommended two doses grew from 30% for girls and 2% for boys in 2011 to 46% and 39% in 2017.
This is certainly progress, and it matches annual data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which shows that just about half of all adolescents have received the HPV vaccine. Still, that lags far behind other recommended vaccines such as those that protect against measles, mumps, and rubella; tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis; and even Hepatitis-B which is also sexually transmitted. All of these vaccines have coverage rates that are closer to 90%.
HPV vaccination rates seem to represent a perfect storm of misinformation and preconceived notions. The original Gardasil vaccine, which protected against 4 types of the virus known to cause cancer and genital warts, was introduced in 2006. Its release got caught up in the growing anti-vaxx movement which was (and still is) pushing the false connection between vaccines and autism based on a work of fiction published as medical science in the Lancet. (The author has since admitted to falsifying his data.) And, because HPV is an STI, the vaccine also got caught up in the persistent myth that if you give young people (or really young women) access to prevention methods—be it condoms or pills or vaccines—you are giving them license to sleep around. This is offensive and has been proven false too many times to count.
HPV is a ubiquitous STI. Almost all sexually active adults will get it at some point in their lives. Most will clear the infection without ever experiencing adverse health effects. But some types of the virus cause genital warts and others cause cervical cancer as well as cancers of the genitals, anus, head, neck, and throat. The current version of Gardasil protects against nine cancer-causing types. Experts believe that widespread use of the vaccine could prevent 90% of these cancers.
We have a vaccine that can prevent cancer. Get it for your kids (it’s recommended for girls and boys between ages 9 and 11) or for yourself (though it’s best to get vaccinated before any sexual activity, the vaccine is now approved for some people up to age 45). It’s as simple as that. Or at least I wish it were.
Read More Me: Want a real political throwback? Remember when Michelle Bachman was the craziest thing to happen to Republican politics and had some strong opinions on HPV vaccines? Check out this oldie I wrote for Rewire News Group.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Does Not Apply to Condoms
Police in Vietnam confiscated an estimated 345,000 used condoms found strewn across the floor of a warehouse in the southern province of Binh Duong. The situation was not quite as sticky as we might imagine, though, because the condoms had been cleaned in an attempt to resell them.
The warehouse owner said he received a monthly influx of used condoms from an unknown source. A worker detained in the bust explained that the prophylactics were boiled in water; dried and reshaped on wooden phalluses; and then repackaged, sealed, and sold as new.
Condoms are the only birth control method that also provide protection against STIs because they serve as a barrier between partners’ infected skin or bodily fluids. Of course, used condoms cannot be relied upon to prevent anything.
It is unclear how long this scheme had been going on and how many recycled condoms were in circulation as a result. As amusing as the state TV footage of police confiscating 742 pounds of condoms in heavy garbage bags likely was, this enterprise may have had serious consequences for unsuspecting condom users.
Can You Be Kind of Pregnant? Perhaps, If You’re a Giraffe
The first home pregnancy test for people hit the market in 1970 but, apparently, there is not an easy, pee-on-a-stick alternative for giraffes. Staff at Animal Adventure Park in Hapursville, New York think they have another pregnancy on their hands because Johari is exhibiting physical and behavioral changes, but so far, the testing has been inconclusive.
The pregnancy drama of the giraffes of Animal Adventure Park has captivated web audiences for the last several years. In 2017, zookeepers set up a live feed to the giraffe barn and people around the world watched as April paced back and forth, finally giving birth to her son, Tajiri, on April 15th. April surprised park staff the following year when it turned out she was pregnant again and in March 2019 gave birth to another son, Azizi.
Now, zookeepers are turning their attention to their other female, Johari. They say Johari “connected” (kind of literal for a euphemism, no?) with a male giraffe named Oliver in July of last year. She’s apparently shown no interest in connecting with him since, but it only takes once, and the timing is right—giraffe pregnancies usually last 14-15 months (so sorry, giraffes). So, the cameras have been turned on again and web viewers can start Giraffe Watch 2020 with live-streaming video and weekly updates on Fridays at 11 am. Good luck, Johari.
As for April, she’s done with pregnancies. Jordan Patch, the park’s owner, said April—who has had five calves in total—was going on birth control. Always a good plan. (I even wrote a love letter to the birth control pill.)
Read More Me: Speaking about birth control, Phexxi is now available by prescription. I wrote about this gel—the first new, non-hormonal contraceptive method to hit the market in years—for Rewire News Group. Read more here.