Time to rethink ‘girls-only’ approach to HPV vaccine?

Submitted by Mastodon on Sun, 2015-03-15 06:26

Article here. Excerpt:

'Encouraging parents to have their sons get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine—rather than just trying to get more girls vaccinated—could ultimately protect more people for the same price, according to a study by a mathematician.

Whether vaccinating boys against HPV in addition to girls would only divert scarce resources from a campaign originally designed to help prevent cervical cancer has been a matter of debate.

But with HPV-related cancers in men on the rise, and HPV vaccine coverage for girls in the United States stagnating well below the critical levels needed to ensure that most people are protected, researchers have been re-examining the case for a girls-only approach.
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Although the virus is most frequently associated with cervical cancer, women aren’t the only ones at risk. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that a third of the 27,000 cases of cancer HPV causes in the US each year occur in men, where it can cause cancers of the throat, tongue, tonsils, penis, and anus.'

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FYI in the United States in 2009 the FDA recommended HPV vaccine for boys and gov provided the funding. HPV vaccine is a vaccine that is not taken as seriously as other vaccines for a variety of reasons. So I understand why parents are not rushing their kids to the clinic. I'm pro-vaccine, but always cautious about new vaccines and over medicating. I'm gonna let my kids decide when they are 17 or so if they want this one or not.

http://www.cdc.gov/hpv/vaccine.html

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Submitted by Kris on Mon, 2015-03-16 07:01