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CDC: Vaccine could have prevented 92% of HPV cancers
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CDC data showed that most of the estimated 34,800 cancers yearly attributed to HPV annually between 2012 and 2016 could have been prevented if the patient had received the 9-valent HPV vaccine.
The agency’s data from 2018 also indicate that HPV vaccination coverage across the 50 states varies, and no state met the Healthy People 2020 objective for HPV vaccination that call for 80% of teenagers aged 13 to 15 years to receive two or three doses of HPV vaccine.
“A future without HPV cancers is within reach, but urgent action is needed to improve vaccine coverage rates. Increasing HPV vaccination coverage to 80% has been and will continue to be a priority initiative for HHS, and we will continue to work with our governmental and private sector partners to make this a reality,” Brett P. Giroir, MD, assistant secretary for health at HHS, said in a press release.
Cervical cancer is the only HPV-associated cancer for which screening is routinely recommended, according to Virginia Senkomago, PhD, of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC, and colleagues.
“Regardless of screening strategy, all abnormal test results require follow-up of abnormal results and appropriate treatment,” they wrote in an MMWR.
The CDC report includes, for the first time, state-level data on the incidence of HPV-associated cancers and the estimated annual number of cancers attributable to the HPV types used in the vaccine, according to a press release.
“These surveillance data from population-based cancer registries can be used to inform the planning for, and monitor the long-term impact of, HPV vaccination and cancer screening efforts nationally and within states,” the researchers wrote. – by Janel Miller
Disclosures: Giroir is an assistant secretary at HHS. None of the other authors report any relevant financial disclosures.