Committee Recommends Routine HPV Vaccination for Boys || NCI Cancer Bulletin for November 1, 2011 - National Cancer Institute

Committee Recommends Routine HPV Vaccination for Boys

On October 25, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend the routine vaccination of 11- and 12-year-old boys with the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, Gardasil. The committee stated that vaccination could begin in boys as young as 9 and that males between the ages of 13 and 21 who have not yet received the vaccine should also be vaccinated.

The ACIP provides advice to government agencies to reduce the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases and to increase the safe use of vaccines and related biological products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will review the committee's recommendations before deciding whether to approve them. (The guidelines will become official when published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report).

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, with approximately 20 million Americans currently infected. Most infections are cleared by the immune system, but some persist. These persistent infections are associated with genital warts, as well as with cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and head and neck. The HPV vaccine works by preventing infections by specific HPV virus types and is most effective when given before exposure to the virus.

In 2009, the committee voted to support the use of Gardasil to prevent genital warts in males but did not recommend routine vaccination of boys. Last week, the committee strengthened its 2009 vaccine recommendation for boys because new data from clinical trials demonstrated the vaccine's effectiveness in males. Given the low rates of HPV vaccination in girls, the committee also noted that vaccinating boys should reduce the rate of HPV infections in females.

NCI Cancer Bulletin for November 1, 2011 - National Cancer Institute