WSJ: FDA Approves Gardasil for Boys (and Girls)!

This was reported by the Wall Street Journal on Oct 16, 2009. Why is this significant from an ENT perspective?

Well, gardasil is supposed to vaccinate people from getting HPV related diseases like genital warts which would help both genders when individuals become sexually active. Of more note, it has been specifically shown to help prevent cervical cancer in females which is a big killer of women.

However, it may potentially prevent other types of HPV related disorders involving the head & neck in both men and women (which has not been studied, but likely to still help), including:

Respiratory Papillomas (benign)
Throat Cancer
Oral ulcers/lesions/warts (benign)

In order to receive the beneficial effect of the vaccine, the vaccine needs to be given in 3 doses (at $130 per dose) between ages 9-26.

Read the WSJ article here.

***ADDENDUM Feb 5, 2016:

Of note there are currently 3 FDA approved HPV vaccines:

• The bivalent HPV vaccine (Cervarix) which addresses HPV 16 and 18;
• The quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil) which prevents four HPV types: HPV 16 and 18, as well as HPV 6 and 11;
• And finally Gardasil 9 which prevents 9 HPV types: 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58.