Pediatr. praxi. 2021;22(4):263-267 | DOI: 10.36290/ped.2021.054

Why to vaccinate boys against papillomaviruses?

RNDr. Ruth Tachezy, Ph.D.^{1, 2}, RNDr. Jana Šmahelová^{1, 2}

¹ Katedra genetiky a mikrobiologie, Přírodovědecká fakulta, Univerzita Karlova, Praha

² Národní referenční laboratoř pro papillomaviry a polyomaviry, Ústav hematologie a krevní transfuze, Praha

Although causing mostly asymptomatic infections, human papillomaviruses (HPV) can also be responsible for a number of benign diseases with high morbidity and other premalignant diseases and carcinomas in both women and men. The population comes into contact with HPV soon after sexual debut, and persistent infection can have late sequelae. Highly effective HPV vaccines are available as a primary prevention tool against HPV types responsible for 90 % of benign lesions and cancers. A number of studies have shown these vaccines to be effective in reducing HPV-associated diseases not only in the vaccinated individuals but also in other age-matched individuals from cohorts with high vaccine coverage. The highest protection is achieved by mass, gender neutral HPV vaccination campaigns. A clinical trial has found that a 70% gender neutral HPV vaccine coverage results in eradication of vaccine HPV types including the most prevalent HPV 16, which has the highest reproduction number. In the Czech Republic, the situation is promising from this perspective; however, it is vital to prevent vaccine coverage reduction in girls and to further increase the vaccine coverage in boys. Underlining the importance of childhood vaccination and the safety of HPV vaccines can be helpful in this regard.

Keywords: human papillomavirus, HPV 16, prophylactic vaccine, vaccination of boys, vaccinal HPV types, low risk, high risk.

Published: October 15, 2021  Show citation