More progress needed on HPV vaccine coverage

More children are getting vaccinated against HPV, but the numbers are still lagging behind targets, a study out this morning in Pediatrics found. U.S. officials had set a goal of 80% of 15-year-olds — both boys and girls — having two doses of the HPV vaccine by 2020. The study of 7.8 million children, however, found that the share of 15-year-olds with two-dose coverage went from 30% and 2% in 2011 for girls and boys, respectively, to 46% and 39% in 2017, with variation in part based on local policy. Washington, D.C., and Rhode Island, for example, both had school requirements and no personal belief exemptions and had wide coverage. The researchers also found a correlation between vaccination rates and the density of pediatricians in that state. The vaccine can prevent certain cancers and genital warts.