The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, also known as the cervical cancer vaccine, has been recommended for all pre-teen and teenage girls and young women since 2006. The virus causes genital warts and cancer and is transmitted sexually; therefore, the vaccine has been somewhat controversial and many parents have chosen not to give it to their daughters. The vaccine has been approved for use in boys since 2009 but was not recommended for all boys. Now the expert panel that makes vaccine recommendations for the United States has voted unanimously to recommend that all boys receive the vaccine as well.
The vaccine panel gives several reasons for changing their recommendation. In addition to genital warts in boys, the virus does cause anal and penile cancer as well as cervical cancer. It can also cause cancers of the head and neck. Anal and head and neck cancers due to this virus have been rising in recent years, even as cervical cancers have declined. It is hoped that by giving the vaccine to all children, including boys, it will protect against all forms of cancer caused by this virus.
They also state that the vaccine has not been widely used in females, and it is hoped that by giving it to males it will help protect more females as well as males. One has to wonder, though, that if it has not been widely accepted in females to prevent cervical cancer, which is relatively common, will it not be even less accepted in males to prevent a much rarer form of cancer?
They state that they considered cost effectiveness (as they always do); however, their data is not available at this time. They did say that it is more cost effective to give it to males when the female immunization rate is very low, as it is now. This is the second case in which they use the fact that females are not getting the vaccine to justify recommending it in boys.
I have not been very enthusiastic about giving the vaccine to all girls; abstinence is a far better way to prevent HPV infection. (I do believe that the vaccine should be considered for girls who decide against abstinence or who marry someone who has not been abstinent). I am even less enthusiastic about recommending the vaccine in boys, for whom the risk of disease is much, much smaller. I think the response from the general public will be very similar.
