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AACI Supports Efforts to 'Get HPV Vaccination Back on Track'

AACI cancer centers are encouraged to endorse a statement recently issued by the Comprehensive Cancer Center at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, calling for the resumption of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescents in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly interrupted delivery of key preventive services, resulting in many U.S. adolescents missing routine HPV vaccine doses.

Even before the pandemic, HPV vaccination uptake in the U.S. lagged far behind several high-income countries and remains well below the Healthy People 2030 goal of vaccinating 80 percent of boys and girls aged 13-15. To protect adolescents from cancers caused by HPV, it is urgent to act now to get HPV vaccination back on track.

The COVID-19 vaccination presents an opportunity for parents to protect their children by catching up on missed or due routinely recommended vaccines. The U.S. has recommended routine HPV vaccination for females since 2006 and for males since 2011. Current recommendations are for routine vaccination at ages 11 or 12 or starting at age 9. Catch-up HPV vaccination is recommended through age 26. The guidelines recommend that adults ages 27 to 45 talk with a health care provider because some people who have not been vaccinated might benefit. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 54 percent of boys and girls ages 13-17 completed the HPV vaccination series in 2019, compared to 42 percent in 2015, with variability by geographic region. The COVID-19 pandemic has jeopardized these modest but positive gains. In spite of more than 15 years of safety and monitoring data and strong evidence showing reduction of HPV vaccine-type infection and cancers, HPV vaccination uptake still isn’t meeting our national goal.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has endorsed the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and its use in 12-15-year-old adolescents. CDC recommends that this vaccine be used among this population, and health care providers may begin vaccinating them right away. In addition, COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines may now be administered at the same visit. Protecting your child from COVID-19 by getting them vaccinated is an easy opportunity to catch up on other vaccines like the HPV vaccine.

More information on HPV is available from the CDC and National HPV Vaccination Roundtable.

In addition to AACI, statement supporters include the American Cancer Society (ACS), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO), Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI), American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO), and NCI-Designated Cancer Centers.

Endorse the Call to Action