May 20, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted delivery of key health services for children and adolescents, including HPV vaccination for cancer prevention.
UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and other National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers and partner organizations today issued a joint statement urging the nation’s physicians, parents and young adults to get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination back on track.
Dramatic drops in annual well visits and immunizations during the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a significant vaccination gap and lag in vital preventive services among U.S. children and adolescents—especially for the HPV vaccine.
Nearly 80 million Americans – 1 out of every 4 people – are infected with HPV, a virus that causes several types of cancers. Of those millions, more than 36,000 will be diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer this year. Despite those staggering figures and the availability of a vaccine to prevent HPV infections, HPV vaccination rates remain significantly lower than other recommended adolescent vaccines in the U.S. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, HPV vaccination rates lagged far behind other vaccines and other countries’ HPV vaccination rates. According to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), slightly more than half (54%) of adolescents were up to date on the HPV vaccine.
Those numbers have declined dangerously since the pandemic:
- Early in the pandemic, HPV vaccination rates among adolescents fell by 75%, resulting in a large cohort of unvaccinated children.
- Since March 2020, an estimated one million doses of HPV vaccine have been missed by adolescents with public insurance— a decline of 21% over pre-pandemic levels.
The U.S. has recommended routine HPV vaccination for females since 2006, and for males since 2011. Current recommendations are for routine vaccination at ages 11 or 12 or starting at age 9. Catch-up HPV vaccination is recommended through age 26.
NCI Cancer Centers strongly encourage parents to vaccinate their adolescents as soon as possible. The CDC recently authorized COVID-19 vaccination for 12-15-year-old children allowing for missed doses of routinely recommended vaccines, including HPV, to be administered at the same time. NCI Cancer Centers strongly urge action by health care systems and health care providers to identify and contact adolescents due for vaccinations and to use every opportunity to encourage and complete vaccination.
More information on HPV is available from the CDC and National HPV Vaccination Roundtable. This is the third time that all NCI-designated cancer centers have come together to issue a national call to action. All 71 cancer centers unanimously share the goal of sending a powerful message to parents, adolescents and health care providers about the importance of HPV vaccination for the elimination of HPV related cancers
NCI-Designated Cancer Centers Call for Urgent Action to Get HPV Vaccination Back on Track
- Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
- Albert Einstein Cancer Center
- Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine
- Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
- Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
- City of Hope
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Center
- Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine
- Dana-Farber / Harvard Cancer Center
- Dartmouth and Dartmouth-Hitchock’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center
- Duke Cancer Institute
- Fox Chase Cancer Center, a part of the Temple University Health System
- Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
- Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
- Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
- Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota
- Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
- Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Moffitt Cancer Center
- MUSC Hollings Cancer Center
- O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
- OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
- OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center
- Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone
- Purdue University Center for Cancer Research
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
- Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
- Salk Institute Cancer Center
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center
- Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center – Jefferson Health
- Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
- St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Stanford Cancer Institute
- Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
- The Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center
- The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
- The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai
- The University of Kansas Cancer Center
- The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- The Wistar Institute Cancer Center
- UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center
- UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
- UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
- UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
- UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
- University of Arizona Caner Center
- University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center
- University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center
- University of Colorado Cancer Center
- University of Hawaii Cancer Center
- University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center
- University of Kentucky, Markey Cancer Center
- University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center
- University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
- University of Virginia (UVA) Cancer Center
- University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
- USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
- VCU Massey Cancer Center
- Wake Forest Baptist Health Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
- Yale Cancer Center
Organizations
- American Association for Cancer Research
- American Cancer Society
- American Society of Clinical Oncology
- American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
- American Society of Preventive Oncology
- Association of American Cancer Institutes
- Cleveland Clinic Children’s
- Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute
- Prevent Cancer Foundation
Media Contacts
Cynthia Patton
412-586-9773
pattonc4@upmc.edu
