1

HPV vaccines: pros and cons

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is one of the most common sexually transmitted viruses

that infect both males and females (White 429). Nowadays, there are around 80 million

Americans that are currently infected with HPV with a prevalence rate of 14 million cases each

year (CDC 2019). While so many HPV infections cease within two years, some infections may

manifest to form cancers in areas such as the cervix, vagina, vulva, penis, anus, and the back of

the throat (CDC 2019). Obviously, cancer remains to be a very frightening disease. However, we

are fortunate that all sorts of cancers that are caused by HPV could be prevented by vaccines

(White 432). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasize that all kids require two

doses of the HPV vaccine which in turn is going to keep children safe from the virus (CDC

2019). Unfortunately, surveillance data from 2007-2013 revealed that only 37.6% of females and

13.9% of males actually complete the fully prescribed doses of the HPV vaccine within the 6-

month time interval (White 430). Furthermore, some parents choose to not vaccinate their

children against HPV even though getting vaccinated is relatively easy (White 430). Recently,

the Los Angeles unified school district has plans to make the HPV vaccine available to middle

and elementary school girls (Garbanati 2018). Even though some parents may have opposing

opinions on HPV vaccines, if I were Mr. Mayor Garcetti, I would contribute to the success of the

implementation of HPV vaccines in schools.

In order to understand why it is important to have HPV vaccines reachable to all students,

we have to understand the virus itself, the dangerousness of getting infected with it, and the

effectiveness of the vaccines which would be provided. First of all, many of the HPV virus

serotypes cause asymptomatic infections and are subclinical in nature (White 430). However,

some serotypes were directly related to causing cervical, penile, anogenital, vulvar, vaginal, and
 2

oropharyngeal carcinomas (White 430). Such serotypes that are carcinogenic include HPV16 and

HPV18 which account for more than 70% of cervical cancers (White 430). It is very important to

understand that these cancers can have very ugly and devastating consequences as they have very

high morbidity and mortality (White 430). Fortunately, HPV vaccines were proven to provide

full protection against pre-cancerous lesions that are caused by the HPV oncogenic viral

subtypes (White 432). The matter of the fact is, multiple studies have proved that HPV vaccines

have been significant in reducing HPV and impacting HPV disease epidemiology (White 431). A

case study that was published in 2019 has collected information regarding HPV cases during the

11 years period the vaccine was made available for people. The study concluded that there were

a significant decrease in HPV infections upon vaccinated people thus the vaccine is effective

(Spinner et al 2019). Also, the study concluded that the decrease of HPV infections among

unvaccinated people is evidence for the vaccine effectiveness in developing herd immunity

(Spinner et al 2019). Considering the cancer risks that are associated with HPV infections and

the effectiveness of HPV vaccines, it is the right choice to allow the vaccine to be available for

all students to have.

Regardless of all the addressed facts, some parents tend to not vaccinate their children

against HPV. There are multiple reasons why parents may refuse to vaccinate their children

against HPV. Such reasons include concerns about vaccine safety, absence of physician

recommendation, and lack of knowledge about HPV (Hedin 2018). Also, few parents believe

that vaccinating children early against HPV encourages early sexual practices (Hedin 2018).

When it comes to vaccine safety, CDC published a document of adverse events that occurred

after taking the HPV vaccine (White 431). Many interesting facts were found out regarding the

adverse events of HPV vaccines. Notably, out of 67 million doses that were administered from
 3

March 2006 till March 2014 there were only 25,176 adverse events that were recorded.

However, around 92.4% of adverse events were not serious (White 431). The most frequent

events that were reported are fainting, local reactions at the site of immunization, dizziness,

nausea, and headache (White 431). However, from the first 12,424 reports of adverse events,

around 6% of these cases were serious and included 32 reports of death (White 431).

Investigations suggested that there are no common patterns to the deaths (White 432). Therefore,

HPV vaccines could not be directly linked to these deaths (White 432). While it is true that

vaccines have pros and cons, HPV vaccines’ benefits in preventing cancer outweigh all the

possible risks that are associated with taking the vaccine (White 429).

All the evidence suggests that there are very low risks associated with taking the HPV

vaccine. Considering all the facts that were addressed in this paper, it is safe to conclude that the

benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks thus, the vaccine should be made available for students

to take. However, parents' concerns about the vaccine should never be overlooked. Therefore,

more awareness about HPV vaccines should spread by awareness campaigns, brochures, and

physicians.

Works Cited

Marin Hedin, M. P. S. (October 24, 2018). “The HPV Vaccine: Why Parents Really Choose to

Refuse”. Johns Hopkins Medicine,

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/the-hpv-vaccine-why-

parents-really-choose-to-refuse
 4

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (May 24, 2019). “Human Papillomavirus (HPV)”.

https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/index.html

White, Mark Donald. “Pros, cons, and ethics of HPV vaccine in teens-Why such controversy?”

Translational andrology and urology vol. 3,4 (2014): 429-34. doi:10.3978/j.issn.2223-

4683.2014.11.02

Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes et al. “Implementation of HPV vaccination guidelines in a

diverse population in Los Angeles: Results from an environmental scan of local HPV

resources and needs.” Vaccine vol. 35,37 (2017): 4930-4935.

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.07.080

Chelse Spinner, Lili Ding, David I. Bernstein, Darron R. Brown, Eduardo L. Franco, Courtney

Covert, Jessica A. Kahn. (Feb 2019) “Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Effectiveness and

Herd Protection in Young Women’ Pediatrics, 143 (2) e20181902; DOI:

10.1542/peds.2018-1902