Vaccines That Prevent Cancer

The idea

Some cancers start with an infection. Prevent the infection, and you prevent the cancers it would have caused years or decades later.

That is not a theory. It is two routine vaccines that already exist.

HPV

HPV is a very common virus. Most infections clear up on their own and cause nothing at all. Some do not clear. Those are the ones that can lead to cancer, many years later.

NCI names six cancers caused by HPV:

• Cervix
• Throat, the middle part behind the mouth
• Anus
• Penis
• Vagina
• Vulva

Three of those happen in men. So this was never a girls-only issue.

NCI reports that each year in the US, there are over 47,900 new cancers in the parts of the body where HPV is often found. NCI estimates HPV causes about 37,800 of them. NCI also estimates the vaccine prevents up to 90 percent of the cancers HPV causes, plus genital warts.

The schedule, per CDC

• The routine ages are 11 and 12, with two doses given 6 to 12 months apart
• Shots can start as early as age 9
• If the series starts after age 15, three doses are needed
• Gardasil-9 is the only HPV vaccine given in the US. It covers nine types of the virus

CDC calls the common side effects mild: a sore arm, a fever, a headache. Studies show protection lasting about 12 years so far.

Is it working?

Yes, and CDC has the numbers. Since shots began in 2006:

• Infections with the HPV types behind most HPV cancers are down 88 percent among teen girls
• They are down 81 percent among young adult women
• Cervical precancers are down 40 percent among women who got the vaccine

Hepatitis B

CDC says a vaccine is the best way to prevent hepatitis B. CDC also says that if a long-term hepatitis B infection goes untreated, it can cause liver damage, scarring of the liver, liver cancer, and death.

The chain is worth stating exactly, because it is easy to overstate. The vaccine prevents the infection. And a long-term infection, left untreated, is one of the things that can lead to liver cancer.

CDC recommends the vaccine for:

• All infants
• All children and teens under 19 who have not had it
• Adults aged 19 to 59
• Adults 60 and over who have risk factors

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a different case. CDC says that here too, a long-term infection left untreated can cause liver damage, scarring, and liver cancer.

What makes it different is that it can be cured. CDC says treatments can cure most people within 8 to 12 weeks. Which makes finding it the whole game.

CDC recommends that:

• All adults 18 and over get tested at least once in their life
• Pregnant women get tested during each pregnancy
• People with certain risks get tested more often. That includes people who inject drugs, people with HIV, people with abnormal liver tests, and anyone who had a blood transfusion before 1992

If you have never had that one-time test, it is a fair thing to ask about at your next visit.