HPV vaccination coverage among girls is low, CDC reports
FROM MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT
Most – 92.1% – of the 21,194 adverse event reports received by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) were classified as "nonserious," and included syncope, dizziness, nausea, headache, fever, and urticaria. Local effects included injection-site pain, redness and swelling. Only 8% of the reports were classified as serious and included headache, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness, syncope, and generalized weakness.
The report also points out that no serious safety concerns have been identified in three population-based U.S. studies of the quadrivalent vaccine safety, although one observational study since the vaccine was licensed found an increased syncope risk.
Dr. Frieden noted that an increased risk of syncope may not be specific to the HPV vaccine because syncope is associated with other vaccines among adolescents, and that a 15-minute observation period after the vaccine is administered is recommended.
He referred to a report released in June in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, which found that the infections with the HPV types in the quadrivalent HPV vaccine dropped by almost 60% among females aged 14-19 years during the 4-year period after the vaccine became available and was recommended as a routine vaccine. (J. Inf. Dis. 2013; 208:385-93).
In the United States every year, an estimated 14 million people will become infected with HPV and about 26,200 will develop new cancers from HPV: 17,400 of those cancers are among females, 10,300 of which are cervical cancers, and 8,800 of the cancers are among males, of which 6,700 are oropharyngeal cancers.
In 2011, the recommendation for the quadrivalent vaccine was expanded to include boys aged 11-12 years, and for unvaccinated males up to age 26 years.
