CDC Recommends Boys Receive HPV Vaccine

According to CNN, the Associated Press and other reports, a federal government advisory committee voted today to recommend that boys as young as 11 be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus, also known as HPV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) says the vaccine series can be started as early as age 9. The CNN report says that twelve members of the committee voted in favor of the recommendation with only one who abstained. The HPV vaccine is already recommended for females between the ages of 9 and 26 to reduce the risk of cervical cancer. The CDC recommends girls get the vaccine at age 11 or 12. The FDA approved the first HPV vaccine, Merck-developed Gardasil, in 2006. The second vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix, was approved in 2009.