Offered to young girls since 2006, the vaccine against human papillomavirus is the subject of an annual vaccination campaign. In a recent report, Inserm recalls that it also concerns boys.
NYes, the papillomavirus does not only affect women. Since 2006, the Gardasil 9 vaccine has been offered to young girls aged 11 to 14, with the possibility of a catch-up at 19 years old. Administered in three doses, it aims to prevent the transmission of human papillomaviruses, and therefore the development of precancerous lesions which are consecutive to it and which may possibly progress to cancer. However, there is one detail that does not seem to have become generalized for the moment: since 2021, the High Authority for Health (HAS) has opened up vaccination to boys. And for good reason, they”can also be infected“, remember Inserm.
As part of a vaccination campaign which will soon be generalized from middle school in France, Inserm takes stock in its Canal Detox section to warn about the importance of vaccinationas well in girls than in boys. If the rate of vaccination coverage among these first reaches 37%, on the boys’ side, only 9% were vaccinated in 2021, while the strategy for the fight against cancer 2021-2030 aims for a target of 80% within seven years. However, if cancers of the uterus are the most frequent, the papillomavirus is also responsible for anal cancerof mouth and throatwho, them, affect both men and women. “Among the new cases of cancer identified each year, linked to human papillomaviruses, a third concern men”, reports Inserm in particular.
HPV is the most common STI
As a reminder, the transmission of the papillomavirus takes place during sexual intercourse, with or without penetration. “Simple skin-to-skin contact is enough to transmission, in particular by the fingers during intimate caresses”, adds Inserm. According to health insuranceit is even sexually transmitted infection (STI) the most frequent, because about 80% of women and men are exposed to it during their lifetime, especially at the very beginning of their sexual life. While there are nearly 200 types, about forty papillomaviruses can infect the genital tract. Among them, HPV 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58 are considered high risk oncogenic. And it’s of these that the vaccine protects.
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Cervical cancer down sharply thanks to vaccine
Introduced in 80 countries, vaccines against the papillomavirus seem so far have proven themselves in countries where vaccination coverage is more developed. As in Australia, one of the first countries to introduce a vaccination program, where the number of people infected with the papillomavirus that causes cervical cancers decreased through vaccination. The prevalence of HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18 fell from 28% in 2005 to 2.3% in 2012 among young women aged 18-24. A recent study even estimated that cervical cancer could be eliminated in this country within twenty years, reports Inserm. In Sweden, a 75% reduction in precancerous lesions was observed between 2006 and 2017, while the number of invasive cervical cancers was also reduced by 88% in young girls vaccinated before the age of 17.
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