Health professionals urge U.S. military to demand vaccination against carcinogenic virus

Staff Sgt. Dena Levari, 27th Special Operations Medical Operations Squadron Immunizations NCOIC, immunizes 2nd Lt. Jose Valadez, 27th Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, with Gardasil at Cannon Air Force Base, NM, May 29, 2012. The vaccine protects against four types of HPV. Military medics say a new vaccination mandate for active-duty troops would prevent most cervical cancers in women and stop the upward trend in throat cancer in men. (Alexxis Pons Abascal / US Air Force)

Military medics and public health officials are pushing for a new vaccination mandate for active-duty troops that they say would prevent most cervical cancers in women and slow the growing threat of cervical cancer. throat in men.

Even in the middle resistance to Pentagon vaccination mandate against COVID-19, they urge all active-duty troops up to the age of 26 to be vaccinated against HPV if they have not already taken the vaccine.

An editorial in the current issue of Military Medicine lists some of the many vaccines that are already required of the military. He argues that “it’s time for the military” to add the HPV vaccine to the list.

“With more than half of the 1.3 million service members in the catch-up vaccination age group under 26, we are poised to have a profound impact with mandatory member vaccination. active duty, ”the editorial says.

Major Erica Hope, a gynecologist oncologist at Brooke Army Medical Center who co-wrote the editorial, said in an interview that imposing the vaccine would prevent a lot of disease, suffering and the associated costs.

“Australia made the HPV vaccine mandatory for schoolchildren in 2007. They are expected to completely eliminate cervical cancer in 20 years,” Hope said. “We could do the same.”

An October military medicine article, titled “HPV-Related Cancers: A Growing Threat to U.S. Military Health and Preparedness“Noted that the number of cases of HPV-related throat and anal cancer had” increased dramatically over the past 20 years, with throat cancers having overtaken cervical cancer to become the most common HPV-related cancer in the United States ”

The vast majority of HPV-related throat cancers affect white males, and some studies have shown military veterans to be at higher risk.

Certain strains of HPV are responsible for over 90% of cervical cancers and about 70% of throat cancers. It is estimated that 80% of adults will have the infection at some point.

The HPV vaccine became available 15 years ago and was first recommended to middle-aged girls because it worked best before people became sexually active and exposed to the virus.

Some countries have made vaccination compulsory for schoolchildren, as have the US states of Hawaii, Rhode Island and Virginia as well as the District of Columbia. The vaccine is now recommended for people up to 45 years of age.

But absorption was poor, despite the vaccine’s excellent safety and efficacy profile.

Researchers using data from the 2010-2018 National Health Surveys estimated that only 42% of women aged 18 to 21 had received at least one dose of the vaccine, requiring two injections, six months apart. Only 16% of men this age had received at least one dose.

“There was this stigma around the vaccine, and there was also a stigma for men,” Hope said. “They just think it’s a woman’s disease.”

Military HPV vaccination rates are lower than civilian rates, she said, with just 26% of active-duty women aged 17-26 reporting having received an injection and less than half of those receiving the second dose. Only 6% of active-duty men of the same age reported receiving even one injection.

“The vaccination rate for women is low,” Hope said. “But for men, it’s catastrophic. This is obviously our big missing piece.

German virologist Harald zur Hausen, who received a Nobel Prize for demonstrating the link between HPV and cervical cancer and laid the groundwork for the vaccine, argued that it is at least as vital for men get vaccinated than women because they act as HPV super-spreaders. .

“All over the world, young men between the ages of 15 and 45 have many more sexual partners than girls of the same age group. They transmit the infection relatively easily, ”zur Hausen told German media dw.com.

The HPV vaccine is one of only two cancer vaccines that exist. The other, the hepatitis B vaccine, which prevents certain forms of liver cancer, has been mandatory for military recruits since 2002.

According to Hope, it is not only cancer that the vaccine warrants would treat, but also the time, trauma and expense required to deal with pre-cancers in female troops discovered during routine exams.

“All of these Pap smear visits, the biopsies, it takes a lot of visits, and it costs a lot of money and a lot of time away from work,” she said. “We had many patients with abnormal smears prior to deployment. This can delay deployment.