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By Amy Norton<\/b>
HealthDay Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
MONDAY, Sept. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
More U.S. kids are getting a recommended vaccine<\/a> that protects against several cancers<\/a> — but there is still much room for improvement, a new study finds.<\/p>\n At issue is the vaccine<\/a> against human papillomavirus<\/a> (HPV<\/a>). Certain strains<\/a> of HPV<\/a> are sexually transmitted, and some of those are “high risk” — meaning that if the immune system does not clear the infection, it can eventually lead to cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the United States, almost all cases of cervical cancer<\/a> are caused by persistent HPV<\/a> infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>. The virus can also lead to cancers<\/a> of the vagina, penis, anus or throat.<\/p>\n Since 2006, the CDC and other groups have recommended that all girls receive the HPV vaccine<\/a>, starting at age 11, and that older girls and young women up to age 26 receive “catch-up” shots if they missed the earlier window. The advice was later extended to boys and young men.<\/p>\n Yet studies since then have consistently shown that most young people are not being vaccinated.<\/p>\n The new findings, published online Sept. 14 in Pediatrics<\/a><\/i>, show that progress has been made.<\/p>\n In 2017, more than half of 15-year-olds had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine<\/a>. That was a significant gain from 2011, when 38% of girls and just 5% of boys had been vaccinated.<\/p>\n But the rates are still far short of the national goal.<\/p>\n “We’re doing better, but we have a long way to go,” said Dr. Amanda Dempsey, a professor of pediatrics<\/a> at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado Denver.<\/p>\n Over the years, there have been a few reasons why parents and young adults skip the HPV<\/a> vaccine, said Dempsey, who wrote an editorial published with the new study.<\/p>\n Some people worry about safety — in part because they think the vaccine is “too new,” she said.<\/p>\n Those concerns are diminishing now that the vaccine has been used for 14 years, Dempsey said. But another obstacle is that many people do not believe they — or their child — are at risk of HPV.<\/p>\n “I think we still struggle with addressing perceived risk,” Dempsey said.<\/p>\n That’s despite the fact that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease<\/a>. It’s so common, the CDC says, that nearly all sexually active men and women will contract the virus at some point, unless they are vaccinated as children.<\/p>\n Only a small portion of infections become persistent and lead to cancer<\/a>. But each year, HPV causes about 35,000 cases of cancer<\/a> nationwide, the CDC estimates.<\/p>\n According to Dr. Ina Park, “The HPV vaccine is highly effective and can prevent multiple cancers.” Park is an adviser to the American Sexual Health<\/a> Association and associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.<\/p>\n Preteens get other vaccinations<\/a> at high rates, noted Park, who was not involved in the study. Those include shots against meningococcal disease and tetanus<\/a>, diphtheria<\/a> and whooping cough<\/a> (Tdap).<\/p>\n But those vaccinations<\/a> are often required for school, while few U.S. states have school policies regarding the HPV vaccine.<\/p>\n Beyond that, Park said some doctors may not strongly recommend HPV vaccination to parents — or do not “bundle it” with the other immunizations preteens get.<\/p>\n The current findings are based on health insurance records for more than 7.8 million U.S. children, for the years 2003 to 2017. By the final year, 57% of 15-year-old girls had received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine, as had 51% of boys.<\/p>\n However, patterns varied widely among states, according to the report by Dr. Szu-Ta Chen, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues.<\/p>\n In 2017, eight in 10 girls in Washington, D.C., had received at least two doses of the HPV vaccine. (Two or three doses are recommended.) Meanwhile, that was true for only 15% of boys in Mississippi.<\/p>\n
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