Ky. leads nation in cancers that are caused by a virus for which there is a vaccination, but most kids don’t get the vaccinations

Kentucky has the highest overall rate of cancers associated with the human papillomavirus, and among females is tied for highest with West Virginia, while at the same time falling in the bottom 10 states for vaccinations that can keep the virus from causing cancers, according to a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

“Kentucky faces many challenges when it comes to encouraging parents, adolescents and providers to understand the importance of the HPV vaccine,” Dr. Ardis Hoven, infectious-disease specialist for the  state Department for Public Health, said in an e-mail to Kentucky Health News.

Speakers at a recent HPV conference in Lexington placed most of the blame for the poor uptick of HPV vaccinations on physicians, because many of them still don’t strongly recommend it. They cited a study showing that a “clear, same-day recommendation” from a physician to a parent is the most important factor in whether children get vaccinated.

The speakers offered several reasons for the lack of such recommendations: The vaccination isn’t required by law, many physicians don’t realize its importance, some falsely believe that it takes too much time to explain, and the vaccine treats diseases that pediatricians don’t deal with. They also noted that the vaccine’s greatest obstacle is that it is associated with a sexually transmitted disease.

“In order to increase HPV vaccination rates, we must change the perception of the HPV vaccine from something that prevents a sexually transmitted disease to a vaccine that prevents cancer,” Electra Paskett, co-director of the Cancer Control Research Program at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, told HealthDay News. “Every parent should ask the question: If there was a vaccine I could give my child that would prevent them from developing six different cancers, would I give it to them? The answer would be a resounding yes—and we would have a dramatic decrease in HPV-related cancers across the globe,”

HPV is most commonly transmitted through sexual intercourse, but it can also be transmitted through any skin-to-skin contact.

The CDC report found that there were almost 39,000 annual cases of HPV-related cancers in the country between 2008-12, a 16 percent increase from the previous five year period. Most of these cases were oral cancers in men and cervical cancers in women, 12.638 and 11,771 respectively.

The data showed that almost 80 percent of the cancers were caused by two strains of the virus that are covered by all of the commercially available vaccines and 10 percent were caused by five other HPV strains that are covered by the newer nine-valent vaccine.

In Kentucky, only 37.5 percent of its girls and 13.2 percent of its boys aged 13 to 17 were vaccinated as of 2014. Nationwide, fewer than half of girls and only one-fifth of boys are getting immunized, and vaccination coverage did not increase substantially from 2011 to 2014.

Hoven said that Kentucky is working to improve its HPV vaccination rates. She noted such efforts as its HPV initiative team, which has created a comprehensive statewide plan to prevent and control HPV infections; a statewide media campaign last summer to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated; ongoing outreach to universities and colleges about the need to immunize students; and a current survey of knowledge among teens and adults about the importance of HPV vaccinations.

The state health department “has taken up the challenge of improving vaccination rates in the state, and will continue this effort going forward,” Hoven said.