Why Aren’t People Clamoring for a Vaccine that Prevents Cancer?

There’s a virus that infects just about every adult. It’s passed by skin-to-skin contact – most often during sexual intercourse. 

It’s the human papillomavirus (HPV for short). It often doesn't show any symptoms, and at times the infection resolves on its own.  It can cause warts, but more ominously, HPV is the single biggest cause of cervical cancer. It's also a factor in common cancers of the head and neck, as well as cancers of the anus and penis. 

It's the main reason most adult women must undergo regular Pap smears, which work well to catch the changes that can lead to cancer while still treatable. But there’s no Pap smear for the mouth and throat, and none for the anus or penis either.  So the invention of a vaccine that prevents cancers caused by HPV should have people running to get it. It has been proven very safe and effective. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infections with the strains of HPV that cause cancers and genital warts have dropped 88 percent in vaccinated teen girls, and 81 percent among vaccinated young women.

While vaccination has focused on girls, boys and men suffer from and spread this infection. A study in the Lancet Global Health found nearly a third of men and boys over the age of 15 are infected with at least one genital strain of HPV and one in five have a cancer-causing type.

Studies show that the earlier teens get the vaccine against HPV, the better it protects them. But people are resisting it. Dr. Grace Ryan, assistant professor of population & quantitative health sciences at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, is looking at why people are hesitant to use this life-saving vaccine, and at how to get people to better understand its benefits.

In this episode of One World, One Health, Dr. Ryan chats with host Maggie Fox about what she’s found about HPV vaccine hesitancy.