
Photo: Heather Hazzan, Self Magazine
The HPV vaccine Gardasil protects against human papillomavirus, a prolific virus that causes many types of cancer. In fact, although it was initially approved to prevent cervical cancer, the most common HPV-associated cancer is head-and-neck cancer. Last month, Gardasil 9 was finally approved for the prevention of head-and-neck cancer.
That certainly took long enough! We’ve known for a long time that HPV is behind the epidemic of head-and-neck cancers, and we’ve known that the HPV vaccine guards against infection with this virus. With HPV causing more head-and-neck cancers than any other HPV-associated cancer in the United States, this approval was long overdue.
Bearing the Burden of HPV
Gardasil 9 is now approved for the prevention of head-and-neck cancer, shining a light on this epidemic.
Although its routine use in boys and men has been recommended since 2011, the HPV vaccine is still primarily thought of as a “girl’s vaccine,” invaluable for its ability to prevent cervical cancer. For the first few years of its existence, Gardasil was only FDA-approved for girls and women, and since then it has struggled to escape its gendered connotations. While this new FDA approval doesn’t change who is eligible to receive the vaccine, it does shine some awareness on head-and-neck cancer, and gives parents more evidence that this anti-cancer vaccine is important to give to sons, not just to daughters.
Head-and-neck cancers can strike anywhere from the lips to the larynx, or voice box, and up into the sinuses and nasal cavity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 11,300 U.S. men are diagnosed with head-and-neck cancer every year, compared to 2,200 U.S women. Continue reading