Almost all conversation and approval efforts regarding Gardasil, the new vaccine that prevents cervical cancer, has been about girls and women. Medical experts and researchers are recommending that boys and men receive the cervical cancer vaccine too. They suggest this is a necessary step if there is to be an effective elimination of cervical cancer originating from infection of human papillomavirus (HPV). At this time, the recent approval for the vaccine only speaks to the use for girls aged 9 to 26. But both women and men become infected with HPV, and it does not make sense that only one half of the population at risk for infection are being vaccinated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) almost 80 percent of U.S. women by age 50 will be exposed to one of the 100 strains of HPV, known to cause genital warts and cervical, vulva and vaginal cancer in women.
"Vaccine prevention strategies work when they are applied in a gender-neutral fashion," stated Bradley Monk, author of the commentary addressing this issue published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. "For example, polio, measles, tetanus, pertussis, diphtheria, rubella, mumps, and Haemophilus influenza B have been nearly eliminated in the United States as a result of this strategy."
