A Strong Provider Recommendation Matters. Don’t Just “Offer” HPV Vaccine to Parents for Preteens. Recommend It!
January 2014
| Technically Speaking | |
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| TECHNICALLY SPEAKING | |
| A Strong Provider Recommendation Matters. Don’t Just “Offer” HPV Vaccine to Parents for Preteens. Recommend It! | |
| Published January 2014 | |
| Information presented in this article may have changed since the original publication date. For the most current immunization recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, visit www.immunize.org/acip/acip_vax.asp. | |
| Let’s start with the good news. Since human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was licensed for use in the U.S. in 2006, vaccine-type HPV prevalence has declined 56 percent among females 14 through 19 years of age. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Now for the bad news. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most recent National Immunization Survey for teens, HPV vaccination rates did not increase at all from 2011 to 2012 in 13- to 17-year-old girls. Only half of these teens received the first dose of this anticancer vaccine, and only one-third received the full three-dose series. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tdap and meningococcal vaccines were added to the vaccination schedule for preteens at about the same time, yet their coverage rates are much higher, 85 percent and 74 percent, respectively. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| These survey results demonstrate that we are missing opportunities to vaccinate preteens against HPV. We need to do better. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provider Recommendations Matter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research consistently shows that a provider’s recommendation to vaccinate is the single most influential factor in convincing parents to vaccinate their children. Here are some important points to remember and statements you can make to parents when recommending HPV vaccine: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| How You Approach the HPV Vaccine Discussion Matters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Your approach to discussing HPV vaccination with a parent strongly influences whether they have their child vaccinated. When you only ask parents if they’d like to vaccinate their child, rather than recommending it, vaccine acceptance drops significantly. Your strong recommendation is what is needed to protect our nation’s children from HPV. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Useful HPV Resources for Your Practice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From the CDC: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| From the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC): | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| From the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (VEC): | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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