According to research, both men and women can avoid getting cancer by getting the HPV vaccine. However, fewer men are getting the shots than women. They made this HPV vaccine to help keep women from getting cervical cancer, and doctors think it’s worked.
New research shows that this vaccine may also protect men from getting cancers linked to HPV. Men who have been vaccinated are less likely to get mouth or throat cancer than men who have not been vaccinated. More than three million people of the same age were watched for the study. Half of them were vaccinated and the other half were not.
For women who got the shot and got it within five years, the risk of getting cervical cancer was low, according to the data from the study. When they looked at the data, they saw that men were also greatly affected. Men who got vaccinated had fewer cases of mouth, throat, penis, and anus cancer.
According to the researchers, cancers take years to form, so based on the numbers, not many guys had these kinds of cancers.
“We think the vaccine will actually have the most benefit in the next two or three decades,” said Dr. Joseph Curry, a head and neck surgeon at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and co-author of the study. The picture here shows the first wave of the effect.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology did another study that showed more women than men have been protected against HPV.
Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is very common, usually doesn’t cause many problems, and is passed from partner to partner through sex. The majority of these infections go away on their own, but every year, nearly 40,000 HPV cases turn into cancer. Girls and boys who are eleven or twelve years old should get this vaccine. Anyone who wasn’t vaccinated as a kid should get a shot around the age of 26.
“HPV vaccine uptake among young males increased by more than fourfold over the last decade,” said Dr. Danh Nguyen, a co-author of the study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “However, vaccination rates among young males still fall behind those of young females.”
A lot of experts say that you should get the vaccine before you get the virus.
