'Unacceptably Low' Numbers of Adolescents Getting HPV Vaccine, CDC Reports

The number of adolescents who have received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine — administered as a way of preventing various forms of cancer in both girls and boys — remains “unacceptably low,” according to an announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.

Only one-third of girls aged 13 to 17 whose parents were surveyed as part of the 2013 National Immunization Survey-Teen had received the recommended series of three doses (beginning at age 11 or 12) of HPV vaccine. “It’s frustrating to report almost the same HPV vaccination coverage levels among girls for another year,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in an official press statement.  “Preteens need HPV vaccine today to be protected from HPV cancers tomorrow.”

The CDC estimates that only 57 percent of adolescent girls and 35 percent of adolescent boys received one or more doses of HPV vaccine — a stubbornly low rate compared to the nearly 86 percent of adolescents who had received one dose of the tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine. “The high coverage rate of Tdap vaccine shows us that it is certainly possible to reach our goal of vaccinating 80 percent of adolescents against cancers caused by HPV,” Schuchat noted.

Through the survey — which included data, verified by doctor records, for more than 18,000 adolescents — reasons given for low rates included not having the vaccination suggested by a family physician, as well as concerns about the inoculation’s safety.

For parents who did have their daughters vaccinated against HPV, 74 percent received a recommendation from a doctor, compared to 52 percent of parents who did not have their daughters vaccinated. For boys, 72 percent of parents who chose the vaccine had received a recommendation, compared to 26 percent of parents who did not have their sons vaccinated.

Questions of safety have been much more of a sticking point — at least in the ongoing public discourse surrounding the HPV vaccine. Those wary of the vaccine have pointed to various, albeit small, studies over the years — including one from 2014, published in the Autoimmunity Reviews journal, that showed “solid evidence of causal relationship” between the vaccine and the onset or exacerbation of autoimmune diseases in a few cases; and another, from 2010, that suggests a connection between the Gardasil vaccine and the onset of Guillain-Barré in 69 cases.

Opinions are split, though. Dr. Diane Harper, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine who worked on studies that got the vaccines approved, told Yahoo Health in an email that the question of safety has not been answered completely by either side. “There is NO way to tell whether Gardasil did or did not cause any safety issues — the federal [Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System] VAERS is not complete enough to make any statements with any veracity in either direction,” she said. “Everything we do in medicine has risk. Parents must weigh the potential risks with the potential benefits and what other options are available for accomplishing the same endpoint.”

Harper also added her belief that “HPV vaccinations are not necessary. They are an optional health benefit just like taking vitamins.” Further, she noted, “The CDC should be pushing the participation in cervical cancer screening so that the young 21 to 30 year olds participate at greater rates. The current rates of cervical cancer participation are unacceptably low.”

But the CDC estimates that if more adolescent girls were given the vaccine before their thirteenth birthdays, 91 percent would have some protection from cancers caused by HPV infection. The agency also asserts that “no serious safety concerns have been linked to HPV vaccination” after 67 million doses have been given, and in the eight post-licensure years of safety monitoring as conducted by federal agencies and vaccine manufacturers. The most commonly reported symptoms, according to the agency’s summation of complaints made to the VAERS, include dizziness, fainting, nausea, and headache. “We take seriously vaccine safety,” Schuchat said in a telephone press conference on Thursday, “and do not consider giving them lightly.”