Dr. La’Shan D. Taylor, epidemic intelligence service fellow of the Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, yesterday said a school-based vaccination program implemented in 2007 for high school females now includes middle school females.
“The HPV vaccine was approved for use in the CNMI in 2007 and targeted for girls aged 11-12, but the vaccine has now been licensed for females ages 9-26,” she added.
Taylor said the vaccine is highly effective against four types of HPV which cause 90 percent of genital warts and 70 percent of cervical cancer.
Taylor was on the island for a week to assist local public health authorities and other partners in the CNMI assess the current status of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccination program in the commonwealth, and discuss plans to monitor the impact of the vaccine.
“Our visit here is also to identify gaps and limitations to successful HPV vaccine implementation,” Taylor said.
She added that they have yet to get the total number of teenage girls who availed of the vaccination program in the CNMI, but she will develop and write a comprehensive report that can help local public health officials in the implementation and monitoring of the program.
Taylor said most of the schools in the states have not adopted the program.
She said that only Washington, D.C. and the state of Virginia adopted the HPV vaccination program for this school year, in addition to the United Kingdom and Australia.
“The 93 percent completion rate for 2007 to 2008 in the CNMI is much better than the other places,” Taylor said.
The school-based vaccination program is not mandatory.
“We are just urging the female teenage students to avail of the vaccines,” Taylor said.
The HPV vaccines should be administered in three doses, Taylor said.
HPV is a very common infection that affects over 20 million people in the U.S. but most of the people infected don’t even know they had been infected with it.
Taylor said the virus can cause genital warts, cancers of the cervix and other high-risk types.
They still recommend regular pap smears for cervical screening as the vaccine only covers 70 percent of the HPV types causing cervical cancer, she added.
Taylor was the guest speaker of the Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt Regency Saipan yesterday.
