Each year six million Americans get human papilloma virus (HPV) through unprotected sexual activity, making HPV the most common sexually transmitted infection. The most frequent result of HPV is genital warts, but HPV causes more severe diseases as well. Each year 30,000 Americans get a cancer caused by HPV. These include cervical and anal cancer, as well as head and neck cancers. Gay and bisexual men, and people living with HIV, are at greatest risk for anal cancer. HPV may also increase women’s risk for heart disease and stroke.
Gardasil HPV vaccine
HPV and the cancers it causes are preventable, but until now insurers would not pay for HPV vaccine for boys and young men. Thanks to a ruling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) October 25, 2011, this will soon change. ACIP voted 12-0 with one abstention to recommend HPV vaccinations for boys and men ages 11 to 21. In 2009 ACIP authorized, but did not recommend, HPV vaccine for 9- to 26-year-old boys and men. This is important because vaccinations of girls and young women, recommended by the CDC since 2006, have proceeded slowly due in part to opposition from socially conservative politicians and parents. Controversy over Texas Governor Rick Perry’s plan to require HPV vaccinations for girls and young women erupted in a Republican presidential debate in September 2011, with Congresswoman Michelle Bachman and former Senator Rick Santorum slamming Perry for the move. Bachman inaccurately called HPV vaccine “potentially dangerous.” She later claimed (again, inaccurately) that it caused mental retardation. The CDC estimates that only 32% of girls 13 to 17 have been vaccinated with HPV. Vaccinating boys and young men will protect them and young women against HPV, and reduce HPV-associated cancers later in life. The CDC’s move is a victory for science and public health, and a rejection of fear-mongering and political demagoguery.
Sean Cahill, PhD, is Director of Health Policy Research at The Fenway Institute.
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