A New Strategy to Fight HPV: Panel Says Boys Should Be Vaccinated Too
HPV refers to one of the most widespread infections, which can be transmitted sexually and with a skin-to-skin contact. Quite often HPV develops without any symptoms and can lead to such health problems as genital warts and even cervical cancer. That is why a lot of specialists are worried about this issue and they try to find ways to stop spreading of HPV.
One of the recent offers was to vaccinate boys and girls before they start their sexual life. This proposal is discussed in the article “A New Strategy to Fight HPV: Panel Says Boys Should Be Vaccinated Too.” Mike Stobbe, who is the author of the article, discusses proposal of the governmental panel and its probable consequences for the society.
Although there is a strong recommendation to vaccinate girls in the age of 11-12 years, a lot of parents refuse to do it or sometimes fail to get all recommended shots. As far as only “a third of adolescent girls have gotten all three shots”, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices suggests that there is a need to introduce routine vaccination of boys as well (Stobbe).
Such vaccination will help to stop spreading of HPV from boys to girls. A lot of doctors suggest that this vaccination may be also helpful for boys and can help to protect them from anal cancer. However, the pros are rather controversial and it is expected that the majority of parents will refuse from such vaccines. Arguments against vaccinating boys vary from high price to statements “my son will not be a gay.” As it can be seen, the situation with vaccine against HPV is rather controversial and it is hard to say about the future development of events.
Negative reaction of boys’ parents concerning HPV vaccination can be easily explained by a widespread delusion that HPV is dangerous only for women. Indeed, men can also be infected with this virus and about a half of all sexually active men have a chance to acquire HPV. In accordance with the statistical data, “about 1 percent of sexually active men in the United States have genital warts at any one time” (Schoenstadt). Apart from this, nowadays leading specialists in medicine suggest that “HPV causes a half-dozen different kinds of cancer, and some are gender-neutral” (Schoenstadt). As it can be seen, there are evidences that men are as vulnerable as women.
Although men can also have HPV, previously there were no diagnostics and vaccine for men. However, nowadays, after years of studies and thorough analysis, specialists believe that the vaccine is safe for men and can be used for preventative measures. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices believes that such vaccine can help not only to stop spreading HPV, but also can protect them against one of the most common type of cancers, which is throat cancer.
Specialists suggest that parents should think well before they decide either to agree or refuse from vaccination. Of course, having an expensive vaccine in order to protect some women in future might be a negligible advantage. However, there are obvious benefits for men and they include protection from genital warts, oral and anal cancer. All of these risks are rather potential and parents should think about protection of their children.
Works Cited
Schoenstadt, M. “ HPV in Men.” EMedTv 25 November 2008. hpv.emedtv.com. Web. 24
Nov., 2011.
Stobbe, M. “A New Strategy to Fight HPV: Panel Says Boys Should Be Vaccinated Too.”
Time 25 October 2011. www.time.com. Web. 24 Nov., 2011.
