HPV Vaccination Rates Surging; Boys Catching Up With Girls in HPV Vaccine Rates

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, anal and oropharyngeal cancers, which is why pediatricians and public health officials have been working to increase uptake of HPV vaccine among teenagers. A new study, “Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Trends Among Adolescents: 2015–2020,” in the July 2022 Pediatrics (published online Wednesday, June 22) finds that HPV vaccination coverage is steadily increasing. Adolescents, ages 13–17 years, with at least one dose significantly increased from 56.1% in 2015 to 75.4% in 2020 and series completion coverage among adolescents increased from 40.3% in 2015 to 59.3% in 2020. Researchers studied data from the NIS–Teen national telephone survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2015 through 2020 and found that the gender gap in HPV vaccination coverage between boys and girls dropped from 13% in 2015 to just 3% in 2020—73.7% of males had received at least one dose in 2020 compared to 76.8% of females. The study also found that those who received a doctor recommendation were far more likely to get an HPV shot (80.7%), but teenagers who had mothers with more education or live in more rural communities had a lower likelihood of receiving vaccination against HPV. Researchers concluded that HPV vaccination coverage among adolescents is increasing, which is important to reduce HPV-related cancers. More research should be conducted to understand why teens whose mothers with a higher education were less likely to receive HPV vaccination.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.