Real Housewives Leanne Brown leaves fans furious after refusing to vaccinate her daughters against HPV
REAL Housewives star Leanne Brown has left fans fuming after revealing she won’t be vaccinating her daughters against HPV.
The 42-year-old posted a lengthy explanation on Instagram this week about the controversial topic, explaining that she has educated herself about it and decided it wasn’t what she wanted for her girls Halle, 17, Lilia, 12, and Lola, nine, who she shares with footballer Wes.
The vaccine helps protect against cancers which can be caused by the virus, including cervical cancer, some mouth and throat cancers as well as cancers in the genital and anal areas, according to the .
It is currently administered in two doses. It is first given to children in Year 8 at school (ages 12-13) and then a second dose 6 to 12 months later.
Defending her decision, she wrote: “These girls are my world and I will do anything to protect them.”
She explained that over the last two years she has become “more aware and educated” both "spiritually but also scientifically”.
Leanne’s post in full
"These girls are my world and I will do anything to protect them. I feel like over the last two years I have become more aware and educated and open to so much in my life. It’s made me see things from different perspectives in a good way. Not just spiritually but also scientifically. I had literally been living in a bubble in so many ways closed off from the wonders of the world.
Slowly I am becoming awakened more and more to everything and with that comes learning about things that before I dare not to question or was too ignorant to. As the saying goes ‘ignorance is bliss’! I have had all my vaccinations and so have my children as babies because that’s what I was told I needed to do to make sure my babies were healthy and free from disease.
The HPV vaccine has only been in the UK since 2008 and 10 years isn’t a long time really, my eldest daughter Halle has had her first HPV and was fine with it but I started to do some research when she was offered her second one last year and decided to decline it. I now have been offered it for Lilia who is almost 13 and deepened my research.
What I have found from various other sources and mums who have the same worries and anxiety about HPV or any vaccines is made me know I have made the right choice.
I have some pretty scary feedback confirming my worries. I would like to point out that I am very grateful for the hospitals and nhs in the UK as I know they do great work. All I am urging you to do is some research.
I am not aiming to scare mongering but the scaring is already out there day in day out from our daily programming from the tv, media, schools, doctors on a daily basis, we just don’t see it because we are not looking properly just going through our lives from one day to the next without actually being present.
We all want the very best for our children and to give them best chance for a healthy happy life. If we spent more time and energy on our minds our outlook on life and nutrition, learning how the environment can effect us and how we can change it. Instead of taking a chance on a short cut to avoid something that may not happen?"
“I had literally been living in a bubble in so many ways closed off from the wonders of the world,” she said.
“Slowly I am becoming awakened more and more to everything and with that comes learning about things that before I dare not to question or was too ignorant to.
“As the saying goes ‘ignorance is bliss’! I have had all my vaccinations and so have my children as babies because that’s what I was told I needed to do to make sure my babies were healthy and free from disease.”
She went on to explain that she started looking into it when her daughter Halle was offered her second one and she made the decision for her not to have it.
Her decision has been made easier because she believes she is not alone, adding: “I have some pretty scary feedback confirming my worries.”
Leanne’s post, which didn’t actually cite any scientific evidence, sparked a flurry of comments from concerned followers who felt she shouldn’t be speaking out about it.
One person told her: “Scary! You are a person with some influence in social media, and you openly broadcast you’re refusing a vaccine. You’re not a medical professional.”
Another added: “A very very irresponsible and unnecessary post! Make your decision and live with it but don't post it on social media with nothing to back you up.”
What is HPV?
The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common sexually transmitted infection which affects at least half of people who are sexually active.
The STI is the most widespread worldwide and four out of five of the population will contract some form of the virus at least once in their life.
In most cases, the body's immune system will fight off the virus and there won't be any need for extra tests, in fact, some people may not even know they contracted it at all.
The HPV infection affects the skin and mucosa (any moist membrane, such as the lining of the mouth and throat, the cervix and the anus).
And different types impact different parts of the body, causing lesions e.g. HPV types 1 and 2 cause verrucas on the feet.
Out of the 100 identified types of HPV, around 40 of them affect the genital areas of men and women, and of these roughly 20 are associated with the development of cancer.
While someone else wrote: “You shouldn’t be putting this out there unless you are a medical professional. You are scaremongering and people will now decline a life saving vaccine.”
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that all women ages 26 and younger receive the vaccine and it's not just women - men under 21 should too.
Vaccination against the virus that causes almost all cervical cancer is having a major impact on stopping infections and should significantly reduce cases of the disease within a decade, researchers said on June 26, 2019.
Presenting results of an international analysis covering 60 million people in high-income countries, scientists from Britain and Canada said they found "strong evidence" that vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) works "to prevent cervical cancer in real-world settings".
The vaccine has been subject to controversy since it was first introduced in schools as some critics say that it encourages young people to be sexually promiscuous.