Teen Health: Local Pharmacist and Mom Shares Info on HPV Vaccination
The teen years are a time for big changes. From mood swings to mall runs and more, parents of teens are often left scratching their heads or pulling their hair out altogether. Since Little Rock Family turns 20 this year, we realize many of our dedicated readers have grown older as have their kids. So, we’re welcoming “Teens” to our monthly Ages and Stages section in an effort to add tools to your parenting toolbox. Even calm, cool, and collected parents may feel the need to go back to the drawing board once in awhile when they’re dealing with teens. Let us know what teen topics you’d like to learn more about in future issues.
Local pharmacist and mom Aubrey Harton, member of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, shares information this month on the widely discussed HPV vaccination.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 79 million Americans are currently infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV), and 14 million people become newly infected each year. It can cause many different cancers in men and women including cervical cancer. January is Cervical Health Awareness Month, and cervical cancer is highly preventable. However, every year about 12,000 women are diagnosed with this disease. In 2010, 3,939 women who were mostly ages 30 to 40, died from cervical cancer.
Since 2006, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended routine vaccination of adolescent girls and boys with a three-dose series of HPV vaccine. This vaccine is part of the childhood/adolescent routine immunization series and is normally given between ages 11 and 12.
Despite the availability of safe and effective vaccines and ample opportunities for vaccine delivery in health-care settings including pharmacies, HPV vaccination coverage among adolescent girls failed to increase from 2011 to 2012. In 2012 only 54 percent of girls in the United States received one dose of the HPV vaccine and only 33 percent completed the entire three-shot series. Also, Arkansas has the lowest HPV vaccination rate of all 50 states, below 20 percent. Rates for other childhood/adolescent immunizations are around 90 percent. In addition, if HPV vaccine had been administered during health-care visits when another vaccine was administered, vaccination coverage for at least one dose could have reached 93 percent.
There has been a lot of opposition to adopting this vaccine. Many argue that giving an adolescent a vaccine against a virus that is spread by sexual contact will promote sexual promiscuity. The HPV vaccine does protect against a virus that is sexually transmitted, however this virus causes a cancer that in some cases can have serious complications and can even be fatal.
Even though parents may be concerned about vaccinating their children at a young age, there are many reasons for doing so. First, HPV vaccination is a three-dose series given over six months, and you want your child to have the full protection provided by the vaccine, well before they are exposed to HPV. In addition, the immune response to the vaccine is better when it is given earlier rather than later. Parents should talk to their pediatrician about getting the vaccine, which the pediatrician or their pharmacist can provide.
HPV is a very common virus with serious consequences for both women and men. Your children are protected from these consequences by having the vaccination. Also, remember that it is a three-shot series and is effective only once the series is completed appropriately. As with many other immunizations, there is a lot of misinformation in communities and on the internet about this vaccine. Be sure you are getting all of your family’s health information from a trusted source, such as a physician, nurse or pharmacist.