Immunology

ACS Updates HPV Vaccination Guidelines

The American Cancer Society (ACS) has released an update to its guidelines for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.

The new recommendations update the group’s existing 2016 guidelines on HPV vaccination, and incorporates “adaptation of the updated (2019) Federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations for HPV vaccination based on broad general agreement but some areas of difference between the ACIP recommendations and judgments of the ACS Guideline Development Group in the context of cancer prevention aims and nationwide efforts to increase vaccine utilization.”

Specific areas of modification include patient age at routine vaccination, recommendations for adult patients who have not been adequately vaccinated, and methods for determining the appropriateness of catch-up vaccination in patients aged 27 to 45 years.

Among the alterations made by ACS:

  • Routine HPV vaccination should be conducted between ages 9 and 12 years, with health care providers being encouraged to begin offering the vaccine series at age 9 or 10 years.
  • Clinicians should inform patients aged 22 to 26 years who have not been adequately vaccinated that vaccination at older ages is less effective.
  • ACS does not endorse the ACIP recommendation of shared clinical decision making for some adults aged 27 to 45 years who are not adequately vaccinated, citing low effectiveness and low cancer prevention potential of vaccination in this age group, the burden of decision making, and the lack of sufficient guidance on selecting individuals who could benefit.

 

“This update of the ACS guideline addresses 3 key issues based on recent actions by the US Food and Drug Administration, the ACIP, and the AAP, as well as new evidence,” they concluded.

“The combination of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening has the potential to prevent tens of thousands of cancers caused by HPV each year in this country and to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in the coming decades.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Saslow D, Andrews KS, Manassaram-Baptiste D, et al. Human papillomavirus vaccination 2020 guideline update: American Cancer Society guideline adaptation. Published online July 8, 2020. CA-Cancer J Clin. doi:10.3322/caac.21616