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AACI Joins American Cancer Society and CDC to Recognize HPV Vaccine Champions
Last month, AACI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Cancer Society announced the winners of this year’s HPV Vaccine Is Cancer Prevention Champion Award. This award was established in 2017 to recognize clinicians, clinics, practices, groups, and health systems who are going above and beyond to foster HPV vaccination in their communities. This year, champions from 25 states were honored for their efforts to achieve high HPV vaccination rates.
The CDC currently recommends that 11- and 12-year-olds receive the HPV vaccine to ensure that they are protected before exposure to the virus, which can cause cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and oropharynx. To maximize the effectiveness of the vaccine, pre-teens should receive the second dose 6 to 12 months after the first. Vaccine uptake still lags behind the ideal 80-percent coverage rate, with only about half of eligible boys and girls receiving the full vaccine series on time.
The good news: recommendations from trusted health care providers remain one of the most effective interventions. Only one in four parents who received a medical recommendation for the HPV vaccine chose not to have their child vaccinated.
The award program is a joint effort to increase the number of young adults in the U.S. who complete the full human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series, to improve the quality of clinicians’ recommendations of the HPV vaccine for 11- and 12-year-olds, and to increase acceptance of the vaccine by parents.