CDC Recommends HPV Vaccine For Boys Too
DETROIT (WWJ) - The Center for Disease Control is now recommending that both boys and girls now get the controversial HPV vaccine.
The vaccine has been recommended as a way for young girls to avoid getting the human papilloma virus that has been linked to development of early cervical cancer.
But Beaumont Hospital Pediatrician Dr. Dave Obudzinski said last summer he began recommending the vaccine for his male patients at age 13 as well.
"There have been more and more studies coming out linking human papilloma virus with head and neck cancers, and I knew that that eventually would be recommended for boys as well as girls," Obudzinski told WWJ Newsradio 950.
Does he recommend other measures protections to prevent the spread of HPV?
"Spermicides are not going to prevent the spread of [sexually] transmitted diseases. Condoms will and they're effective maybe 90 to 95 percent of the time," said Obudzinski. "So, you're still going to have that risk of spreading ... and that's in a perfect world where everyone following the recommendations."
Dr. Obudzinski said 50 percent of all adults are now estimated to have HPV --although most don't know it. But the shots are costly, at over $500, and insurance will not cover them for boys. Obudzinski said he hopes the CDC recommendation will help change that.
There have been reports of sometime debilitating side effects from the vaccine, but Obudzinski said he's never read any research that concerns him.
