A new study, paid for by the company that manufactures a vaccine against human papillomavirus, is renewing debate about whether boys should receive the cancer-fighting vaccine in school.
Human papillomavirus, or HPV as it's often called, is a virus can be transmitted through vaginal, anal, and oral sex. It is known to cause genital warts as well as cervical cancer and has been linked to some cases of vaginal, vulvar, oral, penile, and anal cancers.
Health officials consider the vaccines against HPV as essential tools to fight cervical cancer. But HPV also infects boys and can cause anal or penile cancer.
While the two vaccines against HPV available in Canada are licensed for use in males, boys or their parents have to pay for it themselves. Only teenage girls are eligible to receive the vaccine through taxpayer-funded school vaccination programs.
That's led parents of boys to complain there's a double standard.
Part of the problem is that the vaccine is pricy: about $135 per dose, and three doses are needed to gain full immunity. In addition, there has been little evidence until now to suggest that the HPV vaccine would work to prevent anal cancer in males.
The new study suggests that it will. The study, which was published in the Feb. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that Gardasil was 90 per cent effective in shielding older teenaged boys and young men from several key strains of acquiring HPV. The study found no serious adverse events from vaccination.
The study was funded by Gardasil's maker, Merck & Co.
The researchers also saw some reduction in the number of precancerous penile lesions, although they said it's impossible to know whether this will result in a lower rate of penile cancers down the road.
One of the researchers who worked on the study, Dr. Francois Coutlee, said the findings present strong arguments to consider vaccinating boys in our population.
The Federation of Medical Women of Canada supports the idea, calling for governments to begin offering the vaccine to both sexes during their teens.
Meanwhile, public health officials are asking that more research be conducted, noting that penile and anal cancer is far less common than cervical cancer.
"We would want to look to see whether the vaccine would be cost effective to provide to boys and to girls especially with reduced health care funding," said Toronto Health's Vinita Dubey.
Others argue the health costs could be much higher in the long-run if the vaccine isn't made available to all teens.
"When you look at the mathematical modeling, it makes sense to make the investment," Dr. Marc Steben, an HPV expert who works for the National Public Health Institute in Quebec told CTV's Canada AM Monday.
"You're paying a dollar but you're going to be incurring less disbursement in health costs. So it's worth it in terms of the expenditure."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Rob Brown
