Today, in depressing statistics: A mere 43 percent of American teens are getting their full three doses of the HPV vaccine.
The Wall Street Journal picks up the latest numbers from the CDCās Morbidity and Mortality Weekly. āWeāre excited that people are coming in and starting the series. But now we need to work on getting them back in so theyāre getting all the doses to complete the series,ā said Shannon Stokley, whoās an associate director for science for the immunization services division at CDC, who worked on the report. Itās not that girls are getting it while boys are skipping en masse, eitherāthe Journal notes that the gap has dropped to nine percentage points.
The low rates are particularly striking when you compare the numbers for other vaccines teens get around the same time:
The Tdap vaccineāwhich protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, or whooping coughāis also recommended at a similar age, and 88% of teens got that in 2016, according to the report. Also, 82% of teens got the vaccine that protects against meningitis.
Doctors should administer the HPV vaccine at the same time as the Tdap and meningococcal vaccines, Dr. Meissner says, but thatās clearly not happening. āThere are lots of missed opportunities,ā he says.
The good news is that the number of teens who start the series climbed to 60 percent, so at least the stats were heading in the right direction.
