According to the latest research lesser numbers of teenage girls and young women are getting infected by the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) – a virus linked to cervical cancer. Research also shows that most who start the vaccination regimen against the virus fail to take all three doses.
Earlier studies have shown that HPV vaccine is safe and effective against several strains of the sexually transmitted virus. A survey has shown that only one-third of teens and young women who start the three-dose series actually complete and almost three-quarters do not start it at all. The research findings were presented this week at the American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting in Philadelphia.
Study author J. Kathleen Tracy, an assistant professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore said, “Women who are eligible for this vaccine and could potentially benefit aren’t getting it at rates to maximally prevent cervical cancer… This highlights the need for public health promotions and practice patterns to encourage vaccine uptake or at least discussion of the pros and cons.”
They found that about 30 percent of sexually active 14- to 19-year-olds are infected with HPV at any one time. Over time, persistent infection can lead to cervical cancer. At present the US has two vaccinations against HPV Gardasil, approved in 2006 for girls aged 9 and up, protects against four types of HPV, two of which cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers worldwide. Cervarix, which covers the two strains of the virus responsible for most cases of cervical cancer, was approved in 2009. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that 11- and 12-year-old girls be targeted for the vaccine.
For the study Tracy and her team tried to propagate the idea of vaccination and its regular follow up using text messages in women aged 18 to 26. Earlier a 2008 survey also showed that only about half of American mothers intended to have daughters younger than 13 vaccinated against HPV, despite government guidelines suggesting the opposite. This team looked at medical records of 9,658 girls and women aged 9 through 26 who were seen at the University of Maryland Medical Center between August 2006 and August 2010. They found that only 27.3 percent went for the vaccine. Of this only 39.1 percent completed just one dose, 30.1 percent got two doses and 30.7 percent finished the series. Blacks were more common defaulters as were women between 18 and 26 they found.
Dr. Mark Wakabayashi, chief of gynecologic oncology at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., blames this low vaccination rate on anti vaccination campaigns and fears related to vaccines and autism in children etc. He added, “There are these connotations with sexually transmitted diseases, so I think a lot of parents feel that, when you're talking about minors, everybody else should have the vaccine except their own child.”
According to Tracy women between 18 and 26 are at life’s transition stage where leaving home and school and going to college takes on a priority and vaccines are often missed.
In another research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, published in the journal Health Affairs, it was seen that mandatory vaccination of middle-school students diminished support for the policy.
Study links air pollution to increased colorectal cancer risk through DNA changes