The Scoop on the New HPV Vaccine

By Ruth Shaber, MD, director of Women’s Health Services, Kaiser Permanente Northern California

You might have heard about the new cervical cancer vaccine.

This is very exciting news -- this is the first vaccine that can prevent any form of cancer.

This vaccine works by creating immunity to some strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV). There are more than 100 types of HPV, but only some of them are associated with cervical cancer. Some of the rest can cause genital warts. Most young people are exposed to HPV viruses within two years of becoming sexually active. Usually these exposures don’t cause symptoms and don’t result in any warts or cervical changes.

The new vaccine, called Gardasil, will target the two viruses that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer and the two viruses that cause 90 percent of genital warts. Studies done by the company that makes the vaccine showed that the women and girls who received the vaccine had fewer incidents of the precancerous cervical changes that can lead to cervical cancer and are far less likely to get genital warts.

Ideally, girls between 11 and 12 years old should receive the vaccine during their regular checkups. Women up to age 26 should discuss the potential benefits of the vaccine with their practitioners. The vaccine is currently not FDA approved for women older than 26 or men.

Vaccine recipients still need to get their Pap test at regular intervals because it’s not known how long the vaccine’s effects will last, and it doesn’t protect against all the cancer-causing HPV strains. Hopefully, this exciting new vaccine will lower the risks of young women getting cervical cancer, precancer, or warts. 

Reprinted with permission of Kaiser Permanente Partners in Health, Winter 2006

Editor’s Note: At least 20 states currently are pushing to require this HPV vaccine for preteen girls, leading to nationwide discussion of this issue. Read more about this debate in the New York Times article, Furor on Rush to Require Cervical Vaccine, and find other national coverage.