What if there were a vaccine for young people that could help avert thousands of cancer cases, saving untold American lives? Wouldn't you expect to hear a strong recommendation from your pediatrician that your son or daughter take that shot?
Of course you would. And of course, there is such a vaccine.
It protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cancers in men and women. Those include cancer of the cervix, vagina and anus in women, and cancer of the penis, neck, head and throat in men.
Because of the HPV vaccine, far fewer teenage girls and young women in their 20s now carry the virus. The incidence for boys is also projected to drop.
We've celebrated this success, but also noted that the numbers could go much lower if more youngsters got the three-shot regimen, as recommended, by their 13th birthday.
One big reason they don't get the shots: Some pediatricians and other providers aren't strongly urging it.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of North Carolina, for instance, report that "a sizable minority" of doctors in a 2014 online survey said they didn't deliver an urgent message about the vaccine. Doctors "reported recommending HPV vaccine inconsistently, behind schedule or without urgency," the study said.
"The failure belongs to us," Texas pediatrician Jason Terk told The Washington Post. "It's an epic fail."
Some reasons for this failure:
•The vaccine isn't mandatory in most states (including Illinois) so when a doctor tells parents about their child's vaccination schedule, HPV doesn't rate high.
•There was no public health scare to usher in this vaccine. No outbreak of meningitis. No polio epidemic. "There was no public health scare of sick kids and parents demanding a vaccine," Dr. Margaret Stager, director of adolescent medicine at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, tells us. "This just swept in sideways and so there just wasn't a lot of awareness."
•Many doctors are pressed for time and postpone what can be a difficult conversation with parents about their child's sexual activity. Maybe doctors shy away from a full-throated endorsement because they know some parents believe, wrongly, that such immunizations could encourage teens to have sex. "Some parents will say, 'You know what, she's not doing that now' — meaning the child isn't sexually active — so, the doctor would say, yeah, postpone it," Stager says. "And the window of opportunity is lost."
Earlier this year, top U.S. cancer centers urged an increase in HPV vaccination, calling the too-low rate a serious public health threat. The nation's cancer doctors seek to brand the HPV vaccine as a key weapon in the fight to prevent cancer.
Consider this editorial a booster shot for that message.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is teaching doctors how to talk to patients and their parents about HPV vaccine, and how to overcome reservations with solid scientific information about its safety and efficacy. Experts at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urge physicians who treat youngsters to update the patients' HPV vaccine status at every office visit, whether it's for sickness or just for a sports physical. That means more chances for doctors to recommend the shot or complete the regimen.
Repeat: This is a vaccine that prevents cancer. Yet, 10 years after FDA approval of the vaccine, it remains "tragically underused," in the haunting phrase of top cancer specialists.
This vaccine should be as commonly administered and routinely accepted as those for diphtheria, measles, polio and whooping cough. Doctors, tell your young patients: It's not a question of yes or no. It's a question of yes ... and now.