Send Your Child Back to School With Cancer Protection

August means back-to-school for middle schoolers across the country. If you're a parent like me, you know how hectic it can be getting your kids ready to go back to school. Between shopping for school supplies, getting them to finish their summer reading, and annual checkups and vaccines, it can be tough to make sure you've crossed everything off your to-do list. As a pediatrician, I would also recommend adding HPV cancer prevention to this year's checklist.

Cancers caused by the human papillomavirus - commonly known as HPV - are on the rise in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that HPV causes nearly 31,000 new cancers among men and women every year. Fortunately, we have a vaccine to protect against these cancer-causing infections. In fact, HPV vaccine could prevent over 90 percent of these cancers from ever developing.

CDC recommends that all boys and girls get the HPV vaccine series at ages 11 or 12, so they are protected long before they are ever exposed to the virus. Since the vaccine was introduced in the U.S. in 2006, HPV infections in teen girls have dropped by 64 percent, even before many preteens and teens completed their HPV shot series.

You can take advantage of any doctor's visit-checkups, sick visits, even physicals for sports or school-to ask the doctor about what shots your preteens and teens need. Even if your child's doctor doesn't mention HPV vaccine, be sure to ask about getting it for your child at that appointment.

To learn more about HPV vaccine and its role in protecting your child from HPV cancers and related diseases, please visit here.

© 2024 ParentHerald.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Join the Discussion
Real Time Analytics