HPV vaccine is recommended for routine vaccination at age 11 or 12 years. (Vaccination can be started at age 9.) ACIP also recommends vaccination for everyone through age 26 years if not adequately vaccinated when younger.
HPV vaccination is not recommended for everyone older than age 26 years. Some adults age 27 through 45 years who were not already vaccinated might choose to get HPV vaccine after speaking with their doctor about their risk for new HPV infections and possible benefits of vaccination for them.
Didn't get the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine when you were a child or young adult? Not to worry. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has you covered. The Gardasil 9 HPV vaccine is now approved to include men and women ages 27 to 45.
Generally, since the vaccine does not treat HPV, it just prevents it, there is less benefit after people become sexually active and have likely been exposed to HPV already. The cost-benefit ratio for vaccinating older adults weighs more to the side of just adding cost, so the CDC does not recommend it,” says Dr.
HPV vaccine is free under the National Immunisation Program for young people aged approximately 12 to 13. The vaccine is primarily provided through school immunisation programs. Adolescents who missed the HPV vaccination at 12 to 13 years of age can catch up for a free up to age 26.
Vaccination is not recommended for everyone older than age 26 years. Some adults ages 27 through 45 years might decide to get the HPV vaccine based on discussion with their clinician, if they did not get adequately vaccinated when they were younger.
The HPV vaccine was originally approved for females ages 9 through 26. Now, adults up to age 45 can get vaccinated. U.S. health officials have expanded the recommended age range for people receiving the HPV vaccine to protect against several types of cancer to people in their mid-40s.
But, older women can contract HPV. Although the incidence is smaller than in younger women, one study cited a few possible reasons: Many older women are sexually active, and if they have new sexual relationships later in life, they may be exposed to HPV strains for the first time.
“The vaccine is safe, so it won't hurt you if you're older,” Ramondetta says. The vaccine protects against nine different strains of HPV, so even if you have already be exposed to one, it could still protect you against others.
Some people should not get some HPV vaccines if: They have ever had a life-threatening allergic reaction to any ingredient of an HPV vaccine, or to a previous dose of HPV vaccine. They have an allergy to yeast (Gardasil and Gardasil 9). They are pregnant.
Quadrivalent HPV vaccine
Gardasil® (Seqirus/Merck & Co Inc) is a quadrivalent VLP HPV vaccine (4vHPV; types 16, 18, 6 and 11) registered in Australia for use in females aged 9–45 years and in males aged 9–26 years.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the use of Gardasil 9 for males and females ages 9 to 45. If you're age 27 to 45, discuss with your doctor whether he or she recommends that you get the HPV vaccine.
In most cases (9 out of 10), HPV goes away on its own within two years without health problems. But when HPV does not go away, it can cause health problems like genital warts and cancer. Genital warts usually appear as a small bump or group of bumps in the genital area.
Because HPV acquisition generally occurs soon after first sexual activity, vaccine effectiveness will be lower in older age groups because of prior infections. Some previously exposed adults will have developed natural immunity already. Exposure to HPV decreases among older age groups.
To date, protection against infections with the targeted HPV types has been found to last for at least 10 years with Gardasil (18), up to 11 years with Cervarix (17), and at least 6 years with Gardasil 9 (19).
Genital warts usually appear as a small bump or group of bumps in the genital area. They can be small or large, raised or flat, or shaped like a cauliflower. The warts may go away, stay the same, or grow in size or number. A healthcare provider can usually diagnose genital warts by looking at them.
A significant proportion of elderly women were found to have a persistent cervical HPV infection. Among them there was a high prevalence of CIN diagnosed by histology. The HPV test showed high sensitivity and specificity in detecting CIN in elderly women, while cytology showed extremely low sensitivity.
Most women are exposed to HPV in the course of normal sexual activity if they've had more than one sexual partner. The reason we don't do Pap tests before age 21 is because the likelihood of someone that young getting cervical cancer is very low. After age 65, the likelihood of having an abnormal Pap test also is low.
The low vaccination rate in males has largely been attributed to the common perception that HPV affects only girls. This makes sense given that the vaccine was initially advertised as a means to prevent cervical cancer.
Think of it like chickenpox—that virus can lie dormant in the bodies of people who were infected as children, then come raging back as shingles later in life when the immune system weakens. It's the same with HPV. The reactivation risk may increase around age 50.
How did I get HPV? HPV is a sexually-acquired virus. Even if you were to have sex with a single partner in your life, using condoms every time, there is an 80% chance you will acquire HPV in your lifetime. HPV can be spread by contact between genital skin, so LGBQTI people can also get the virus.
85% of people will get an HPV infection in their lifetime. Almost every unvaccinated person who is sexually active will get HPV at some time in their life. About 13 million Americans, including teens, become infected with HPV each year. Most HPV infections will go away on their own.
Although the HPV vaccine is approved for people up to 45, the CDC only offers a provisional recommendation for vaccination of women and men over 26.
“By the time you vaccinate individuals in their 30s and 40s, many have already been exposed to HPV, so the health benefit really decreases at these older ages,” she said. “It's also important to emphasize that cervical cancer screening remains an effective and cost-effective way to protect women from cervical cancer.”