Urgent need for HPV vaccination boost, U of M study finds
HPV vaccine. Image: Capital News Service - Virginia Commonwealth University
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Only 35 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys have received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine, according to a new study from the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health. The study looked at vaccination data from U.S. adolescents from 2009-2014. The CDC recommends adolescents complete the 3-dose series of the vaccine.
"In the U.S., the HPV vaccines have been recommended for girls since 2006 and boys since 2009. However, vaccine uptake has been disappointingly low and far from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2020 target of 80 percent coverage," said Nicole Basta, Ph.D., co-author of the study.
U of M researchers said efforts to boosts HPV vaccine rates could be enhanced by targeting groups at the greatest risk of failing to get the HPV vaccine. The research team looked at obese and overweight teens as a group that may be less likely to receive the HPV vaccination, but the study data did not support that hypothesis.
The study findings were recently published online in the journal Vaccine.