62 National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Centers have endorsed a “joint statement urging the nation’s healthcare systems, physicians, and other health care providers and professionals, parents, and caregivers, and the public to promote and choose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for cancer prevention.” UT Health San Antonio, one of the cancer centers endorsing the statement, has the news.
HPV vaccination is safe and “works to prevent six types of cancer (oropharyngeal, cervical, anal, vaginal, vulvar, and penile). Recently released National Immunization Survey (NIS)-Teen data show no gains in HPV vaccination over the last few years indicating urgent action to ensure children today are protected against HPV-related cancers they may develop in adulthood.”
Current HPV vaccination guidelines are for “routine vaccination at ages 9 to 12. Catch-up HPV vaccination is recommended through age 26. Adults aged 27 through 45 should talk with their health care providers about HPV vaccination because some people who have not been vaccinated might benefit.” Only 63% of boys and girls ages 13-17 completed the vaccination series in 2024, and numbers have stagnated over the past three years.
Nearly 80 million Americans, or one in four people, are infected with HPV. Of those millions, “more than 40,000 will be diagnosed with HPV-related cancers this year and hundreds of thousands more with pre-cancers caused by HPV.” HPV vaccination prevents HPV-related infections and cancers, as pre-cancer incidences dropped precipitously in age groups most likely to be vaccinated from 2008 to 2022.
