Lecture Notes

Two HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, have been developed. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services highly recommends their use. Gardasil was the first approved HPV vaccine and is the one we will focus our examination on since there is more data on it. It is approved for the administration to both males and females aged 9-26 years. Gardasil protects against HPV types 6 and 11 (the cause of 90% of genital warts) and types 16 and 18 (the cause of 70% of cervical cancer). Gardasil also prevents HPV associated with anal, vulvar and vaginal cancers. The vaccine does not protect against those already infected with these types Failure in completing the vaccine series in a six-month period and lack of parental acceptance has significantly affected the effort to vaccinate all young people in the United States. Cultural taboos have influenced the receptiveness to this vaccine. Most people who have sex will have HPV at some time in their lives, and they may have HPV for a very long time before it is detected. There should be no shame or blame involved with having genital HPV; the virus is very common.