In a recent New York Times editorial, Paul A. Offit Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explored the reasons behind the incredible slow and limited use of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which prevents several types of cancer.
Offit wrote, “Every year in the United States thousands of men and women die from cancers that can be prevented with a simple vaccine. Sadly, uptake of this cancer-preventing vaccine is abysmal. One reason: Doctors don’t want to talk about sex. The good news is, they don’t have to.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in concert with the American Academy of Pediatrics, has strongly recommended the use of this vaccine for adolescents.
To date, only 57 percent of girls in the target population had started the three-dose series; and only 38 percent had finished it. In boys, for whom the vaccine was recommended a few years ago, 35 percent had started and only 14 percent had finished the series.
Why has the use of this vaccine been so dismal? Most likely, in part, because people simply don’t understand how serious an infection HPV can be. Each year in the United States roughly 4,000 cancers caused by HPV.
Offit reported that, “About 79 million people in the United States have been infected with HPV, and 14 million new infections occur every year. As a consequence, 18,000 women and 8,000 men suffer preventable cancers of the cervix, anus, penis and throat; it’s the most common, and except for H.I.V., the most fatal sexually transmitted disease.
The HPV vaccine is virtually 100 percent effective.
Will use of the HPV vaccine increase sexual promiscuity? Absolutely not! Again Offit reported that, “A study of 1,243 young women and girls between the ages of 15 and 24 alleviated this concern. Those who received the HPV vaccine were not more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior.”
When Dr. Anne Schuchat, MD (assistant surgeon general and the director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases) shared her analysis of the reasons behind woeful rates of HPV vaccinations, she posted quite simply that adolescents weren’t getting the HPV vaccine because doctors weren’t recommending it strongly enough.
One of the top reasons parents did not vaccinate was the lack of a recommendation from their health care providers. A likely reason, suggested Offit, “Doctors are uncomfortable talking about sex with 11-year-olds.”