CDC pleads with doctors to recommend HPV vaccine to patients

CDC Director Tom Frieden issued a video recorded statement urging pediatric and family practice physicians to recommend the HPV vaccine along with two other vaccines recommended for children entering their teen years.

by John Tyburski

Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

First published at Daily Digest News on August 18, 2014

The vaccine against human papilloma virus, or HPV, is safe, effective, and prevents cancer. These were the words spoken on Monday by Tom Frieden, MD,MPH, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the CDC, there are approximately 27,000 new HPV-related cancers in the U.S. every year. Frieden says many of these can be prevented with better vaccination adherence.

“Twenty-seven thousand HPV-related cancers are diagnosed every year in the United States and HPV vaccination could prevent most of them,” said Frieden in the video-recordedaddress.

Despite some recent news reports of adverse health effects resulting from receiving the vaccine, Frieden argued that the vaccine is safe and works better than public health officials had hoped. Frieden cites failure of physicians to recommend the vaccine as the primary reason parents report for why they have not had their children vaccinated against HPV.

The recommended time to vaccinate a child for HPV is at 11 or 12 years of age, around the same time they are advised to receive Tdap and meningococcal vaccines.

“I’m asking pediatric and family medicine clinicians to strengthen your recommendations,” said Frieden. “You can recommend and administer the HPV vaccine to all preteens during the same visit that you recommend and administer the Tdap and meningococcal vaccines.”

Frieden said that the best way for doctors to recommend the HPV vaccine is to include it in a “bundled recommendation” for all three vaccines: HPV, Tdap, and meningococcal. He advised doctors to review vaccine status of their young patients at every office visit and to use electronic medical records or registry systems to provide reminders.

“If parents have questions about HPV, remind them that the HPV vaccine prevents cancer,” advised Frieden.

An independent review of safety and efficacy evidence is in the proposal stage with the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonpartisan international group that promotes evidence-based health recommendations through systematic reviews.