HPV Vaccination in Boys

Infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) is an epidemic that is silently spreading across our country today. Currently, 20 million Americans are infected with a form of HPV; this will lead to 20,000 new cases of HPV-related cancer each year. Many believe that this disease burden disproportionately affects women – indeed, half of the cases found each year will be in women in the form of cervical cancer. However, HPV can also lead to anal, vaginal, penile, and oropharyngeal cancer in both men and women. HPV is also directly linked to genital and anal warts. It is because of the ever-increasing morbidity and mortality associated with HPV infection that I believe we should establish a national program to vaccinate both girls and boys against HPV during early adolescence.

Legislation to enact a nationwide program to vaccinate boys and girls against HPV is our best chance at reducing some of the HPV strain on future generations. Your state, Virginia, is one of only two places in the nation that supports vaccinating children through an opt-out, school based program. I believe that a similar model would be effective on a national scale. In summary, your state’s bill from 2007 requires that all girls, aged eleven, receive the three doses of HPV vaccine at school or by their physician prior to entering sixth grade. If parents have a religious or moral dispute with this policy, they have the ability to refuse vaccination with no negative repercussions. By allowing parents to opt-out of the policy your state’s legislature put in place four years ago, the majority of girls across the commonwealth will be protected against HPV, while still preserving one’s parental right to decline treatment.

Of course, HPV vaccination is a contentious t...

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...e Act has mandated that ACIP and CDC recommended preventative vaccinations be dispensed without the assessment of a copayment. Consequently, only children who are not covered by Medicaid or private insurance will lack the ability to get the vaccination; funding to cover these children could be integrated into next fiscal year’s Medicaid payment schedules to each state.

Developing a national, mandatory HPV vaccination program may not be the easiest bill to pass within our current session of Congress. However, I believe that the disease burden that HPV creates for the American health care system each year is large enough to demand an alternative solution to that with which we are working today. Our children deserve it. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions on the content I have drafted above; I look forward to discussing this issue with you further.