BMJ  2006;332:1106-1107 (13 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7550.1106

Editorial

HPV vaccine and adolescents' sexual activity

It would be a shame if unresolved ethical dilemmas hampered this breakthrough

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In June 2006 the US Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve a human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine which is over 90% effective in preventing new infections and precancerous cervical lesions caused by the HPV types that it covers.^{1 2} The vaccine prevents cancer through preventing sexual transmission of HPV types that cause cervical cancer.³ This link to a sexually transmitted infection raises ethical concerns that must be resolved if the benefits of preventing cancer are to be realised.

The vaccine must be given before HPV infection is acquired. It is most likely to be recommended for 11-12 year olds, because by the ninth grade (age 14-15) 28% of girls in the US are sexually active. This has prompted some advocates of premarital abstinence to charge that HPV vaccination will condone or promote sexual promiscuity. However, its impact will probably be small because multiple factors are associated with initiation . . . [Full text of this article]

Program in Medical Ethics, Division of General Internal Medicine, and Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, USA
(bernie@medicine.ucsf.edu)

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Javitt, G., Berkowitz, D., Gostin, L. O. (2008). Assessing Mandatory HPV Vaccination: Who Should Call the Shots?. J Law Med Ethics 36: 384-395  
• Cameron, J C., Wallace, L. A, Ahmed, S., Duff, R., Donaghy, M., Goldberg, D. J (2007). HPV vaccine: positive insights from universal adolescent HepB vaccination. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 61: 1018-1019 [Full text]  
• Lo, B. (2007). Human papillomavirus vaccination programmes. BMJ 335: 357-358 [Full text]  
• Colgrove, J. (2006). The Ethics and Politics of Compulsory HPV Vaccination. NEJM 355: 2389-2391 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

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Hypocrisy and HPV vaccine

jacqueline J martindale
bmj.com, 20 Jun 2006 [Full text]