For years, there’s been an easy and highly effective way to prevent adolescents and teens from getting certain cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV): with a vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends this vaccine, which is given in two doses about a year apart, for every boy and girl at age 9 and 10. It’s easy to add this one to the vaccine schedule at well-child visits.
And the news about the HPV vaccine just keeps getting better. A study conducted in England from 2001 to 2024 set out to find if, and how, an HPV vaccination campaign had impacted mortality rates from cervical cancer, which is caused primarily by the human papillomavirus.
The findings indicate that “high HPV vaccination coverage is associated with a substantial reduction in cervical cancer deaths." The sharpest declines were seen among women in their 20s, especially those vaccinated at age 12 or 13.
In fact, researchers found no cervical cancer deaths among 20- to 24-year-old women between 2020 and 2024, compared with about 23 expected deaths based on historical rates.
The authors add that their findings mean that the World Health Organization’s goal of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health risk is realistic, and they encourage countries across the globe to increase vaccination rates.
Dr. David Rainey of Novant Health Robinhood Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in Winston-Salem explains why vaccinating your child against HPV is a no-brainer.
When should parents get their kids vaccinated for HPV?
Before their kids are sexually active. The CDC recommends that parents begin discussing the vaccine with kids when they’re 9 or 10.
Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, is given twice — the first dose one year, and the second between six months and one year later.
Novant Health follows the guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and that’s for kids to get the first vaccine at their well visit at age 9 and the second one at their 10-year-old well visit. That’s been updated from earlier guidance that recommended the vaccine at age 11 and 12.
So, one at age 9 and the second at age 10, and that’s it. If teens finish the two doses before age 15, they’re done. If not, they need a third dose. The two (or three) doses are good for a lifetime.
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How is HPV spread?
Through sexual contact, and that includes oral sex.
Can HPV be passed through kissing or sharing the same straw?
No.
How common is HPV?
Very common. According to the CDC, more than 42 million Americans are infected with the 15 or so types of HPV known to cause cancer. And about 13 million more, including teens, become infected every year.
Some parents may worry that getting their kids the HPV vaccine gives them a free pass to have sex at an early age. Do you ever see that in your patients?
The data show just the opposite. Effective health education makes teens less likely to have sex when they’re young. Maybe in the early days of the vaccine, some parents had that concern. But the vaccine has been around since 2006. (The FDA approved it for use in females between the ages of 9 and 26 then.) When you give parents the data, they generally decide it’s a good idea to vaccinate.
I ask parents: “If there was a vaccine that could prevent breast (or colon) cancer, wouldn’t you do that for your child?” That’s what the HPV vaccine is: It’s cancer prevention.
What cancers can HPV lead to?
Cervical and vulvar cancer in females. Penile cancer in males. And anal cancer for both. Also, there are head and neck cancers linked to HPV.
Cervical cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women worldwide. It had previously been No. 2. More than nine out of 10 instances of cervical cancer are caused by HPV, and almost all cervical cancer cases can be prevented by HPV vaccination. Recent evidence has shown cervical cancer to be the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide and fourth most common cause of cancer deaths. The death rates are dramatically lower in countries with access to the HPV vaccine.
How effective is the HPV vaccine at preventing cancer?
The CDC reports that the HPV vaccine can prevent more than 90% of cancers caused by HPV.
The vaccine doesn’t prevent all types of HPV. Gardasil 9, the latest iteration of the vaccine, protects against the nine most common disease-causing strains of HPV. But when you look at the data, you realize the efficacy at preventing cancer from those HPV strains is amazing.
HPV doesn’t impact males and females in the same way. Women living with HPV are three to six times more likely to develop cervical cancer compared to the general population.
In addition, cervical cancer disproportionately affects younger women, who often face more aggressive tumor types and potential long-term fertility impacts from cancer treatment.
HPV can be dormant for years, right?
Right. You can have the HPV virus but show no signs of it — no clinical lesions.
And that — the fact that you could have it and transmit it without your knowledge — makes the vaccine even more important.
Exactly.
Are parents of boys as apt to get the vaccine for their sons as they are for their daughters?
Parents of boys are as likely as those of girls to vaccinate. Some families don’t think genital or head and neck cancers will ever apply to them, but it does. Everyone is at risk.
When teens reach 18, they can make the decision on their own.
Anything else you’d like to share about the HPV vaccine?
Yes. There is this misconception that the Gardasil vaccine has a lot of side effects, and that is simply not true. It is just as well tolerated as the very common Tdap, or tetanus booster.
