HPV Prevention Is Working: What We Are Starting to See

When HPV vaccination was introduced, the biggest promise was decades away: fewer HPV-related cancers.

Now we are far enough into the vaccine era to see earlier steps in that pathway changing.

The chain from infection to cancer

Persistent infection with high-risk HPV types can lead to precancerous cell changes and eventually cancer.

Vaccination interrupts the process near the beginning—before persistent infection ever has the chance to start.

What has changed

Since HPV vaccination began in the United States in 2006, vaccine-type HPV infections have fallen sharply in vaccinated age groups, and cervical precancers caused by vaccine-covered types have also declined.

CDC estimates that HPV vaccination can prevent more than 90% of cancers caused by HPV.

Vaccination and screening are partners

HPV vaccination does not replace cervical cancer screening. The two strategies work at different points: vaccination prevents many infections; screening finds precancerous changes that still occur.

For a primary-care practice, that makes HPV prevention one of the clearest examples of preventive medicine working across adolescence and adulthood.

— Nora Phillips, DNP, APRN Central Health | Wahiawa, Hawaii

Sources

CDC — HPV Vaccination. https://www.cdc.gov/hpv/vaccines/