HPV Vaccination Rates in Males Increased Over 200%

Human Papillomavirus vaccination is most effective when initiated before sexual debut
young couple in love
(Precision Vaccinations News)

In the United States, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage rates have been on a slow, upward trajectory for several years.

This increase is supported by the growing body of data showing the HPV vaccine efficacy is a powerful cancer prevention tool.

Moreover, the clinical data indicates it is clearly a lost opportunity to enhance health outcomes when the HPV vaccine is not administered as suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

To better understand the current HPV vaccination rates, researchers assessed temporal trends in HPV vaccination among 9-26 year-olds in the 2011-2016 NHANES database. There were 4,007 males between 9-26 years of age who participated in this interview.

This review found the percentage of males who had received at least 1 vaccine dose increased overall from just 7.8% in 2011-2012 to 27.4% in 2015-2016.

This is great news!

Additionally, positive trends were reported for each stratum of ethnicity, health insurance, poverty level, and immigration status.

This increase in male HPV vaccination is encouraging, however, the actual coverage remains below national targets.

HPV vaccination is most effective when initiated before sexual debut since there is a reduced likelihood of prior HPV exposure.

More than 40 HPV types can be easily spread through direct sexual contact, from the skin and mucous membranes of infected people to the skin and mucous membranes of their partners.

HPV can be spread by vaginal, anal, and oral sex, according to Cancer.gov

In the U.S., HPV vaccination has been recommended by the CDC for males since 2011.

Additionally, young adolescents (ages 9-14) have also been shown to mount a stronger immune response to HPV vaccination compared to older populations (ages 15-26).

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended routine HPV vaccination at 11-12 years of age, but can be initiated as early as 9-10 years of age.

“Catch-up” HPV vaccination is recommended for all males aged 13-21 years.

Additionally, men aged 22-26 years are permissively eligible for “catch-up” HPV vaccination, particularly if they have an immunocompromising condition or report having sex with men.

Since October 2016, immunocompetent adolescents who initiate the HPV vaccine prior to their 15th birthday only require a 2-dose schedule to be considered adequately vaccinated, says the CDC.

Two prophylactic HPV vaccines are licensed in the U.S, and each vaccine confers protection against HPV types 16 and 18, which are responsible for 63 percent of HPV-associated cancers in the U.S.:

  • quadravalent [Gardasil] - the quadrivalent and nonavalent vaccines confer protection against HPV types 6 and 11, which cause genital warts.
  • nonavalent [Gardasil-9]) - confers protection against additional oncogenic HPV types (31,33,45,52,58) that cause ~10% of HPV-associated cancers.

These HPV vaccines can be found in most pharmacies in the USA. The CDC Vaccine Price List provides HPV vaccine prices for general information.

And vaccine discounts can be found here.

Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects, says the CDC. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of vaccines to the FDA or CDC.

These authors declare no potential conflicts of interest. This work was supported in part by extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (1R01AI120938 and 1R01AI128779 [to A.A.R.T] and K01AI125086 [to M.K.G.]) and the Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The corresponding author is Aaron A. R. Tobian, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University.

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