Updated August 3rd, 2020

Should Children as Young as 9-Years-Old Get The HPV Vaccine?

Dr. Ted Teknos University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center

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HPV Vaccine

HPV vaccine now recommended for ages 9-12, down from 11-12
Younger age of vaccination confers greater immune response
Think of it as a cancer vaccine, rather than an STD vaccine, Dr. Teknos advises

When the American Cancer Society recommended that children as young as 9 begin getting the HPV vaccine, some parents wondered if this was too young.

“The immune response is actually heightened as the child is younger,” says Dr. Ted Teknos, a head and neck cancer surgeon, and scientific director of University Hospital’s Seidman Cancer Center. “So if you’re vaccinated as a nine-year-old compared to an 11-year-old, your actual memory of that vaccine in your immune system is stronger — the effectiveness of the vaccine goes up.”

Dr. Tekos says he witnessed the rapid rise of head and neck cancers in young people in recent decades. He believes this added protection is essential.

“When I first started practicing head neck surgery, we saw this group of patients who never smoked, were not drinkers, and were developing head neck cancer,” he notes. “In the early and mid-nineties, those were rare patients. But then, year by year, those numbers increased dramatically.”

“The rate of HPV-related head, neck cancers has gone up by 300% and that is entirely due to HPV infection,” he explains. “So there is no myth that HPV causes throat cancer. It's a sexually transmitted disease. And it’s something that is an epidemic in the United States.”

HPV & The Vaccine Explained

HPV has over 120 different strains, but HPV 16, has been shown to be the primary cause of 92% of head and neck cancers.

Gardasil 9 creates an immune response to HPV 16. Once children are vaccinated, they cannot be infected with that strain. For parents, the HPV vaccine enables them to protect their children from developing cancer in the future.

Still, some worry that the vaccine provides a license for early sexual activity.

Not so, says Dr. Tekos. “I think rebranding the vaccine as a cancer vaccine, rather than an STD vaccine, is critically important to changing the mindset around the vaccine and its effect on our society.”

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Dr. Ted Teknos is president and scientific director of the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, and Deputy Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. Read More

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