A new vaccine to prevent the virus that causes cervical cancer in women will be available shortly in Minnesota and throughout the country. Gardasil, a product of Merck and Co. that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in June, protects women and girls against strains of a ubiquitous germ called human papilloma virus (HPV), which has been shown to cause cervical cancer. HPV also causes genital warts, a sexually transmitted infection that would be prevented by the vaccine.
Although Gardasil is already officially on the market, it is still not available in the Vaccines for Children program (VFC). The VFC provides vaccines to doctors who serve underinsured children and is administered by the CDC. Once the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends a vaccine for the VFC, it can take several months to negotiate a contract with the vaccine maker to purchase large batches of doses. Lynn Bahta, immunization unit supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Health, says providers typically prefer to wait to begin vaccinations until they are available across the board for all patients. “Most doctors hold back on starting to promote vaccines until they can get it for all their patients so they don’t have to tier out who they give it to and who they don’t.”
Doctors are eager to provide the vaccine based on its impressive results: While the vaccine only protects against four of the 70 known types of HPV, those four types are responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer and 90 percent of genital warts. Every year in the U.S. alone, there are approximately 9,700 new cervical cancer cases and 3,700 cervical cancer deaths.
Bahta expects the vaccine, which is made up of three shots to be given over a six-month period at a cost of $120 per dose, to be available in Minnesota sometime in the fall once a contract agreement is reached between the government and Merck. Insurance providers are nearly unanimous in their agreement to cover the vaccination for patients.
