Toronto Sun

February 23, 2010

An HPV vaccine that protects women from most varieties of genital warts and cervical cancer, has been approved for use by boys and men in Canada.

The vaccine, Gardasil, has been approved for boys and men ages nine through 26, the same age range as its approval in girls and women. In 2007, the federal government announced $300 million in funding to deliver in-school vaccination clinics.

Gardasil to girls across Canada, and provincial programs began popping up across Canada to deliver in-school vaccination clinics.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said that it is now reviewing the data and will make a recommendation to the provinces based on their findings.

This could result in the in-school vaccination programs being extended to boys, or it could not.

While controversy was inevitable as school-aged children were being vaccinated for sexual infections, the vast majority of inoculations were performed without incident.

Approximately 70% of sexually active men and women are estimated to have at least one HPV infection over the course of their lives. And while there are more than 100 different varieties of HPV, only four of them cause most genital warts and cancers. Gardasil is effective at preventing infection from all four types.

While Canadian statistics on the effectiveness of the vaccination program are not yet available, Australia has successfully vaccinated up to 70% of women under the age of 28 and has been able to gather significant data.

The Australian study found that inoculating women against HPV was a proven and effective way of preventing widespread infections of genital warts.

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