A decade ago, the world of medical research celebrated the introduction of the first vaccine proven to protect people from an identified cancer-causing agent. Studies over subsequent years affirmed the effectiveness and safety of the HPV vaccine and its potential to spare tens of thousands of people from having to suffer horrible cancers. Yet, inexcusably, pediatricians and family doctors remain reluctant to recommend the vaccine.
From the start, there was controversy about the vaccine, much of it ill-informed. Not surprisingly, much of the misinformation had to do with sex. Because the vaccine prevents the most common sexually transmitted infections linked to the human papillomavirus, which in turn can cause cancer later in life, there was talk that use of the vaccine might encourage teenage promiscuity.
According to Lois Ramondetta of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, doctors who are not recommending the vaccine are not doing their job. "It's the equivalent," she said, "of having patients in their 50s and not recommending a colonoscopy--and then having them come back with cancer."
Doctors need to heed that advice, and further efforts must be made to tear down misconceptions about the HPV vaccine and to encourage its use.
Editorial on 06/30/2016