Health & Medicine
Too Few Adolescents Receive HPV Vaccine: CDC
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jul 24, 2014 04:18 PM EDT
Increasing numbers of U.S. adolescents are receiving vaccines to guard against cervical and other types of cancer. However, federal officials noted Thursday, that the number of individuals reached is still very low.
"It's frustrating to report almost the same HPV vaccination coverage levels among girls for another year," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, via Reuters.
The annual survey on how many U.S. children are getting vaccinated shows little upward mobility, particularly for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which guards against various cancers, including genital warts.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2013, 37.6 percent of girls ages 13-17 received all three doses of the vaccine; that's up about 4 percent from the previous year. However, the number falls far behind the CDC's goal of an 80 percent vaccination rate.
Researchers found that while the percentage of boys receiving all three doses of the vaccine has more than doubled since 2012, according to the CDC's National Immunization Survey of teens, the vaccine is oftentimes not recommended for some adolescents.
The 2013 study showed that doctors did not recommend the vaccine to nearly one third of girls and almost half of boys, despite CDC guidelines that all 11 to 12-year-old adolescents receive it.
"When a teen (has been) in the doctor's office and received another vaccine but not HPV, that is a missed opportunity," Schuchat concluded, via NBC News.
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First Posted: Jul 24, 2014 04:18 PM EDT
Increasing numbers of U.S. adolescents are receiving vaccines to guard against cervical and other types of cancer. However, federal officials noted Thursday, that the number of individuals reached is still very low.
"It's frustrating to report almost the same HPV vaccination coverage levels among girls for another year," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, via Reuters.
The annual survey on how many U.S. children are getting vaccinated shows little upward mobility, particularly for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which guards against various cancers, including genital warts.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2013, 37.6 percent of girls ages 13-17 received all three doses of the vaccine; that's up about 4 percent from the previous year. However, the number falls far behind the CDC's goal of an 80 percent vaccination rate.
Researchers found that while the percentage of boys receiving all three doses of the vaccine has more than doubled since 2012, according to the CDC's National Immunization Survey of teens, the vaccine is oftentimes not recommended for some adolescents.
The 2013 study showed that doctors did not recommend the vaccine to nearly one third of girls and almost half of boys, despite CDC guidelines that all 11 to 12-year-old adolescents receive it.
"When a teen (has been) in the doctor's office and received another vaccine but not HPV, that is a missed opportunity," Schuchat concluded, via NBC News.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone