The University Health Center has recommended the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for women since the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2006, but it’s now turning its attention toward males.
In December, the health center began allowing men to get the HPV vaccine, and recently, it has been encouraging more men to schedule appointments for the shots.
“We would have liked to make the vaccine available to men much earlier,” Interim Medical Director Jenny Soyke said. “The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) didn’t approve the vaccine until December, so now we can give it to them.”
HPV can cause genital warts and rare cancers in both men and women. Although the disease often shows no symptoms in men and cannot be detected with STI testing, getting the vaccine can help prevent against certain types of genital warts caused by HPV, according to the FDA’s Web site. Because a man infected with HPV can pass it to his sexual partners, getting the vaccine could help prevent against the disease’s further spread.
The virus exists in two types: low-risk (wart-causing) and high-risk (cancer-causing). In most cases, there are no obvious symptoms, and the body is able to get rid of the infection naturally. In high-risk cases left undetected and untreated, HPV can lead to cervical cancer in women. Out of the more than 40 different types of HPV, 13 are known to cause cervical cancer.
The HPV vaccine protects against four types of the virus in women, two of which are responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. The CDC estimate that close to 10,800 new cases of cervical cancer caused by HPV are diagnosed every year, and about 4,000 women die from cervical cancer annually. The vaccine protects against two types of the HPV virus in men, which can cause genital warts.
Many men and women, however, choose not to be vaccinated. Many students have criticized the vaccine’s price, $125 per dose — a steep amount for 20-somethings trying to pay their way through school. Complete vaccination requires three separate injections over a period of six months, bringing the total price to $375. Some insurance companies don’t cover the vaccine, so people are forced to either pay out of pocket or not be vaccinated at all.
“If the vaccines were less expensive, I would consider getting them, but it’s just too much money,” University sophomore Taylor Hughes said.
“I don’t think I’d necessarily need to get it. I wouldn’t spend that kind of money,” University freshman Scott McCreery said. “With my lifestyle, I wouldn’t have to worry about spreading HPV around.”
Soyke simply described the number of men to get the first HPV vaccine so far as “a handful.”
[email protected]