Cancers caused by HPV on the rise as vaccination rates lag

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Ontario’s HPV vaccination rates are too low at a time when cancers related to HPV (human papillomavirus) are on the rise, according to a national medical women’s group that advocates for women’s health.

Dr. Chloe Rozon, an Ottawa-based resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology said vaccination rates in Ontario and the rest of Canada need to be higher. Rozon is a member of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada’s HPV task force,

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“In other countries such as Australia where the vaccination rates are much higher, we see much lower prevalence of cervical cancer.”

In Ontario, 68.5 per cent of 17 year olds have been given the vaccine to prevent HPV infection, even after what the organization calls “unprecedented catch-up efforts” following a drop in vaccinations during the early years of the pandemic. HPV vaccines are given in school in Ontario.

That is far from the World Health Organization’s goal of having 90 per cent of 15-year-old girls vaccinated by 2030 as part of a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer.

Rates are significantly lower for older Canadians, and lower for males than females. Among people 18-24 years of age, only 68 per cent of females and 23 per cent of males reported that they were vaccinated, according to a 2021 immunization coverage survey.

Vaccination against HPV can reduce rates of cervical cancer by up to 90 per cent. In countries where HPV vaccination rates are high, cervical cancer rates are sharply declining. Scotland saw rates plummet after a widespread HPV vaccination campaign, according to research.

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In Canada, though, rates of cervical cancer have risen by 3.7 per cent a year for the past decade, said Rozon., making it the fastest-increasing cancer among females. An estimated 1,550 people were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2023 and 400 people died from it, according to the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

“The greatest way to prevent cervical cancer is through vaccination,” Rozon said.

Mouth and throat cancers caused by HPV have also been rising rapidly in Canada, she said, and are 4.5 times more prevalent in males than females. One-third of HPV-related cancers in Canada are in males, who have lower rates of HPV vaccination than females.

“We have a vaccine that prevents cancer, why are we thinking twice or hesitating? We don’t understand what causes all cancers, but we know these cancers are caused by HPV infection and we have a vaccine that prevents that infection. We just need to get that vaccine into people.”

All Canadian provinces offer the HPV vaccine in schools as part of their publicly funded vaccine programs. It was originally offered to girls, and later extended to include boys.

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The Federation of Medical Women of Canada wants to see higher vaccination rates across Canada to reduce rates of cancers.

HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the world, affecting both men and women. It is estimated that 75 per cent of Canadians who are sexually active will be exposed or infected in their lifetime, according to the Federation of Medical Women of Canada.

Most infected people clear the virus, but those who don’t can develop HPV-related cancers and diseases.

In order to increase rates of vaccination, the Federation of Medical Women of Canada wants to see eligibility for publicly funded vaccines expanded to include those who didn’t get it in school, they would also like to see pharmacists and even dentists given the authority to prescribe and administer the vaccine. While pharmacists can currently administer the vaccine, only physicians can prescribe it.

The group is also calling on the Ontario government and public health agencies to increase communication about the vaccine and HPV, citing surveys showing a lack of public knowledge about HPV and the vaccine, including that it is available to males as well as females.

“If we do not act to improve these immunization rates, thousands of Ontarians will develop cancers in the future, which could have been prevented by vaccination,” the organization said in a recent paper focused on improving vaccination rates.

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