UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center, along with 61 other National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Centers, top advocacy organizations and the University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center issued a joint statement Tuesday urging vaccination against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes more than 40,000 preventable cancer cases nationally each year.
Despite nearly two decades’ safety and monitoring data and strong evidence showing reduction of HPV-associated cancers in vaccinated individuals under 25, only 63 percent of boys and girls ages 13-17 completed the vaccination series in 2024, with no increase in recent years toward the federal Healthy People 2030 goal of 80 percent vaccination of boys and girls, according to National Immunization Survey-Teen data.
Vaccination by the 13th birthday is known to prevent 90 percent of cancers caused by HPV, including cervical, vaginal, vulvar, oropharyngeal, anal, and penile cancers.
“We still seek the root causes of many cancers and how to prevent them, but in the HPV vaccine we have an incredible prevention tool that’s known to be both safe and effective,” Thomas P. Loughran Jr., MD, Director of the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We strongly urge families and individuals to talk to healthcare providers and take advantage of it.”
HPV vaccination has been recommended for females since 2006 and for males since 2011. Current guidelines call for routine vaccination at ages 9 to 12, and experts recommend catch-up HPV vaccination through age 26. Guidelines also recommend that adults aged 27 to 45 discuss vaccination with a healthcare provider, as some individuals who did not receive the vaccine when younger may still benefit.
From 2008-2022, cervical pre-cancer incidence decreased 79 percent and higher-grade pre-cancer incidence decreased 80 percent among women aged 20-24 years screened for cervical cancer, the age group most likely to have been vaccinated, according to a recent article in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In addition to urging parents and caregivers to have age-eligible children vaccinated, the signatories called on care providers and staff to identify and contact parents and caregivers of age-eligible children who are due and encourage them to complete vaccinations.
The joint statement coincides back-to-school season, when most children aged 9-12-years-old are vaccinated against HPV, and Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month in September. It was endorsed by American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Preventive Oncology, the Association of American Cancer Institutes, Cervivor, and the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
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