Julie Altmann didn’t hesitate when her children’s pediatrician suggested they get the vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus.
“As a parent, I want to protect my kids as much as possible,” the Dunwoody mom said. “I feel I can do that with this vaccine.”
Her daughter, now 13, received the vaccine three years ago, and a son, now 11, got it in 2013.
"The (HPV) vaccine is preventive, so the sooner you get it in the system and get it working, the better it will help you," Altmann said.
National health officials hope other parents follow suit and are asking pediatricians to help by recommending that preteens and teens, beginning at 11 or 12 years of age, get vaccinated against HPV, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the country.
About 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV. At least 14 million people become newly infected each year with the virus that can lead to certain types of cancers, including cervical and throat, and genital warts. Most of those new infections occur in people in their teens and 20s.
Initially, the vaccine, which is taken in three doses and protects against several kinds of HPV, was recommended for girls only, but the CDC now encourages boys to get it as well. It works best when all doses are taken in enough time to help the body build up an immune response before a person engages in sex.
Officials are disappointed, though, that the number of young people getting all three doses of the vaccine didn’t increase as much as they had hoped in 2013.
“It’s frustrating to report almost the same HPV vaccination coverage levels among girls for another year,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
For instance, initial HPV vaccination coverage for girls rose 3.5 percentage points to 57.3 percent in 2013 from 53.8 percent in 2012. Yet only 38 percent finished all three doses. In boys, 35 percent had started the vaccine series and 14 percent had finished.
There are potentially two stumbling blocks to more young people getting the vaccine — physicians aren’t recommending it and people are uncomfortable talking about HPV because it’s sexually transmitted. In addition, there is reluctance among some parents to have their children vaccinated, period.
“Doctors have some room for improvement in the way they talk about HPV,” she said during a news conference earlier this summer. “Often they’ll talk about recommending Tdap and meningitis vaccines and initiating a conversation about HPV. We think it’s a much better way to say, ‘Today there are three recommended vaccines: meningitis, Tdap and HPV.’ Really mainstreaming the recommendation for HPV together with the other two recommended vaccines. We think that is a very clear way to send a strong recommendation and it’s easy for parents to understand.”
Altmann said when her doctor recommended the HPV vaccine for her children, she agreed because she trusted him.
“It’s like, ‘This is another vaccine that we’re going to give you to help you along the way,’ ” she said.
The Altmanns’ pediatrician, Dr. Jeffrey Hopkins, at Northside Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in Sandy Springs, said the practice has recommended the HPV vaccine for a number of years and views it as a “cancer vaccine.”
But, “there’s been a slow increase in parental acceptance,” he said. “I think some patients are concerned that it’s sort of an OK to be more sexually active,” which is isn’t.
He added, “Studies have conclusively shown that it does not make teens more promiscuous.”
He talks to them about the merit of the vaccine, which CDC officials say has resulted in a decrease in HPV infections.
“I gave it to my own kids,” he said. “It’s safe and effective with no downside. I guess it’s a difficult conversation to have, and some physicians haven’t wanted to approach it.”
Dr. Kirsten Franklin, who practices with Obstetrics & Gynecology of Atlanta, makes it a point to talk with teens, their parents and older patients under 25 about HPV.
“In all fairness, a good percentage have already gotten the vaccine from their pediatricians,” she said. When she asks those who haven’t why not, the answer from parents most frequently is that the pediatrician didn’t recommend it or that they read on the Internet about side effects.
Any side effects are minimal, such as a soreness where the needle was inserted. Franklin not only talks the talk. She also got her children vaccinated against HPV when they were younger.
“A big problem with these moms is that they don’t want to talk to their daughters about having sex at that age or to think about it themselves,” she said.
As for the CDC’s Schuchat, she said there are efforts underway to increase awareness, including use of social media and outreach to physician groups and various organizations.
“People who treat cancer are more frustrated than I am about the vaccine not being used,” she said.
Added Altmann: “It was a no-brainer.”
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