Why Aren't More Parents Vaccinating Their Kids Against Cancer?

If there were a vaccine that could protect your 11-year-old son from getting cancer as an adult, you’d make sure he got it, right? As it turns out, this immunization exists, but a majority of young boys are not adequately protected, as journalist Jane Brody noted in The New York Times on Tuesday. The human papillomavirus vaccine ― which protects against HPV-associated cancers including throat and tongue, cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, and penile cancers ― is strongly recommended as cancer prevention for 11- and 12-year-old boys and girls by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The bad news: Just 22 percent of boys ages 13-17 had undergone the recommended three-dose HPV vaccine course for maximum cancer protection in 2014, and only 42 percent of boys had received at least one dose. In comparison, 79 percent of boys and girls ages 13 to 17 received a meningococcal conjugate vaccination and 88 percent received a Tdap vaccination ― two other common vaccines recommended for that age group. Why is the HPV vaccine so unpopular? A series of blunders provide a lesson in how a cancer vaccine rollout went so wrong ― and how it’s still affecting children a decade later:  Mistake #1: The vaccine was initially introduced for girls only  The HPV vaccine got off to a rough start. For starters, the vaccine was originally only tested on and approved for girls and women. The vaccine wasn’t approved for boys until 2009, thr...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news