On a stage in Tampa, Fla., last month, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, took a swipe at Texas Gov. Rick Perry that made the medical community cringe. She vilified Perry, a rival in the GOP primaries, for a 2007 executive order which mandated that sixth grade girls be vaccinated for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the virus accountable for cervical cancer. She described the order as pumping a “potentially dangerous” injection into the arms of 11- and 12-year old girls.
Bachmann’s statement echoed the cries of advocacy groups claiming that these mandates would increase risky sexual behavior and infringe on individual rights. These groups helped defeat all but two vaccine mandate laws, including the one Perry introduced in Texas.
North Carolina wasn’t one of the 24 states to introduce HPV vaccine mandates into law and this is unlikely to change soon. The state should offer voluntary HPV vaccines in middle schools, a strategy that could build upon the 39 percent of N.C. teenage girls who have completed the vaccine series. It would also provide equal access to those without medical care and quell concerns about government coercion.
Noel Brewer, a professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health and director of Cervical Cancer-Free N.C., said a school-based voluntary vaccination strategy worked for Hepatitis B, another sexually transmitted infection.
Brewer said North Carolina quickly achieved more than 80 percent coverage when it offered optional Hepatitis B vaccinations in schools in the 1980s. The state has since made the vaccination mandatory and now vaccinates almost 94 percent of children.
Like Hepatitis B, HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cancer. Roughly 20 million Americans are infected with HPV, half of them between ages 15 and 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The immune system clears most of these infections, but those that remain lead to cervical cancer in 12,000 American women every year. HPV is also associated with throat cancers in males and females.
The two FDA-approved HPV vaccines provide excellent protection against strains that cause 70 percent of all cervical cancers and are most effective before girls start sexual activity. The CDC recommends starting the three doses at age 11 or 12 and catch-up doses for girls up to age 26. (The vaccine is fully covered under UNC’s student health insurance plan).
The vaccine costs a steep $130 per dose, but experts estimate that immunization of 12-year old girls is cost-effective. Individuals and families need not worry about paying full price since it is generally covered by private insurance, Medicaid and government vaccine programs for the uninsured.
