The HPV vaccine

Despite recommendations for annual preventive exams for adolescents, only 10 percent of teens have enough visits within 12 months to receive the recommended three shots needed for HPV vaccine.
Ideally the three shots are delivered within six months, and only 1 percent of teens see their physicians that often. HPV or the human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Two of the four strains the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil®, manufactured by Merck & Co., Inc., protect against cause 70 percent of cervical cancers (the other two protect against 90 percent of genital warts). The vaccine was recommended earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the American Academy of Pediatrics for girls 11 and 12 and those 13 to 26 who had not yet received the vaccine.