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National Child Health Day: Build a Bright Future Through Preventive Health

The Importance of the HPV Vaccine for Adolescents - 9/19/07

According to the National Commission on Prevention Priorities, the childhood immunization series is considered one of the most cost-effective clinical preventive services. Recently, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended an addition to that series: the HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccine is especially significant as it is the first ever vaccine licensed to protect against cancer, cervical cancer.

With an estimated 6.2 million new infections each year, genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States.1 Although most infections have no clinical symptoms, the infection can lead to cervical cancer in women and genital warts in both men and women. About 50% of sexually active females aged 20 to 24 year and 40% of females aged 14 to 19 years have HPV.2 More than 50% of sexually active men and women are infected with HPV at sometime in their lives.3

The HPV vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006. In March, 2007 ACIP recommended the vaccine for 11- to 12-year-old girls in an effort to vaccinate prior to sexual activity.1 Females aged 13 to 26 years who have not previously been vaccinated should be given the HPV vaccine and girls as young as 9 can be vaccinated.1 The HPV vaccine is administered in three doses.

The HPV vaccine is an inactivated (not live) vaccine which protects against 4 major types of HPV. These include 2 types that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancer and 2 types that cause about 90 percent of genital warts. HPV vaccine can prevent most genital warts and most cases of cervical cancer.3

Vaccination during adolescence is a relatively new concept. It is important to improve Adolescent vaccination rates given the addition of three new vaccine recommendations3:
  • Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) for those aged 11 to 12 years
  • Meningococcal vaccine (MCV4) for those aged 11 to 12 years
  • Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series for those aged 11 to 12 years (females only)
The costs associated with HPV:
  • Prevention and treatment of HPV-related disease costs $4 billion a year in the United States.3
  • In the United States annual direct medical costs associated with cervical cancer range from $300 to $400 million a year.3
  • In the United States annual direct medical costs associated with genital warts are estimated at $200 million a year.3
What employers can do:
  • Educate employees about the vaccines all children and adolescents need.
  • Cover the HPV vaccine (all doses) at no cost to the employee.
  • Encourage female beneficiaries to get a well-woman exam every one to three years.
  • Go to www.mchb.hrsa.gov/childhealthday for more healthful tools and information about children's health.
1. Markowitz LE, Dunne EF, Saraiya M, Lawson HW, Chesson H, Unger ER; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR Recomm Rep. 2007 Mar 23;56(RR-2):1-24.
2. Dunne EF, Unger ER, Sternberg M, et al. Prevalence of HPV infection among females in the United States. JAMA. 2007;297:813--9.
3. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines needed by teens and college students. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/teen-schedule.htm.
Accessed on September 18, 2007.


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