TNewswise — oday the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced 32 recipients of the HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention Champion Award – more than three times the number of 2017 awardees. The award program is a joint effort to increase the number of American young adults completing the full human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series.
Nearly 80 million Americans—one out of every four people—are infected with HPV. Every year in the United States, 33,700 women and men are diagnosed with a cancer caused by infection with HPV. Vaccination could prevent more than 90 percent of these cancers—about 31,000—from occurring.
Yet despite the availability of a safe and effective HPV vaccine, vaccination completion rates in the U.S. are low. According to the CDC, only 49.5 percent of girls and 37.5 percent of boys between the ages of 13 and 17 completed the vaccine series in 2016.
In June, AACI and ACS joined the nation’s 70 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers in issuing a call to action to increase HPV vaccination and screening, with a goal of 80 percent of American young adults completing the full vaccine series by 2020.
“HPV vaccination is a major priority for AACI cancer centers,” said AACI Executive Director Jennifer W. Pegher. “We are proud to partner with ACS and the CDC to raise awareness of this vitally important cancer prevention tool and honor champions who are going above and beyond to promote HPV vaccination in their communities.”
To qualify for the HPV Champion award, nominees must be a clinician, clinic, practice, group, or health system that treats adolescents as part of their overall patient population and must have an HPV vaccine series completion rate at 60 percent or higher for their adolescent patient population.
To view Champion profiles and learn more about the HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention Champion Award, visit https://www.cdc.gov/hpv.
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The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) comprises 98 premier academic and freestanding cancer research centers in the U.S. and Canada. AACI is dedicated to reducing the burden of cancer by enhancing the impact of North America’s leading academic cancer centers.
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