In a move that, according to statistics, could prevent thousands of cancer cases every year, the federal Food and Drug Administration last week approved the use of the HPV vaccine for women and men up to age 45, according to an FDA announcement.
Previously, the vaccine known as Gardasil 9—approved by the FDA in 2014 and which acts to prevent nine different strains of the HPV virus—was okayed for use only in individuals ages nine years old to 26. The HPV vaccine has been considered to be most effective when given to younger people, as young as age nine, who have not yet engaged in sexual activity. However, because even sexually active adults are not likely to have been exposed to all nine strains of HPV covered by Gardisil 9, experts say that the vaccine will benefit those adults as well, according to a Washington Post report.
HPV, human papillomavirus, is the most common type of sexually transmitted disease in the United States, affecting about 79 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a majority of cases, an HPV infection will simply be flushed out of the body naturally, by the immune system. But in cases where the infection persists, the most common symptom is genital warts.
HPV infections can also lead to cancer, including cervical cancer in women as well as other genital, oral and anal cancers in both genders, according the Mayo Clinic.
But by approving the Gardisil 9 vaccine for use in individuals up to age 45, the FDA estimates that more than 31,000 cases of HPV-related cancer every year can be prevented from ever taking hold. That’s about 88 percent of the cancer cases that would occur without the vaccine, according to the FDA statement.
The FDA’s thumbs-up to the new, increased age limit resulted from a study of 3,200 women ages 27 to 45 that demonstrated that the vaccine was effective in preventing persistent HPV infections and their associated symptoms, such as genital warts and pre-cancerous lesions, according to a report by
The one catch is that the FDA approval does not necessarily mean that insurance companies will cover the HPV vaccines for 27-45 year-old Americans. The CDC advisory committee is expected to vote on whether to recommend that older individuals receive the vaccine sometime in early 2019, The Post reported. If the CDC makes that recommendation, insurance companies will become more likely to cover the vaccinations.
Photo By Jan Christian / Wikimedia Commons
