Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Last year, Catalonia was the first autonomous community to introduce systematic vaccination in boys in the 6th year of ESO to guarantee direct protection against HPV among this group, as well as to help stop community transmission.
Last year, Catalonia was the first Autonomous Community to include vaccination of children against the human papillomavirus in its vaccination schedule, fourteen years after systematic vaccination began for girls in the sixth grade, that is, between the ages of 11 and 18. and 12 years old. It was the 2007-2008 academic year and only after a decade of application of this preventive measure was it verified that, thanks to the immunization of the female population, the incidence of genital warts in women between 16 and 19 years of age had decreased by 60% and in addition this gave indirect protection to boys, among whom warts were reduced by 4-6% .
In this regard, it should be remembered that it is estimated that around 85-90% of sexually active women and men will acquire the human papillomavirus (HPV) at some point in their lives, whose infection is sexually transmitted. Thus, most people who have sexual relations are in contact with the virus and most of the time it does not cause disease, however, sometimes it causes benign lesions such as warts and can even cause cancer. “There are more than 90 serotypes of the virus, some of which have clinical repercussions. In some cases the virus is associated with genital warts and in a small percentage, cancer,” explains Montse Martínez, from the Public Health Agency of Catalonia. .
In fact, most cervical cancers are associated with HPV, just as the virus is also associated with other types of tumors such as anus, mouth and throat, vulva, vagina, and penis. It was precisely because of the desire to prevent cervical cancer, with a high incidence among women, that vaccination was launched in 2007 in girls aged 11 and 12, an age that was not chosen at random, but rather responds to the convenience of immunizing before the start of sexual intercourse and, therefore, of any possible infection with HPV.
equity and equality
At that time, that first vaccine only protected against two oncogenic serotypes of the virus, which were the cause of most cases of the cervix, but the one administered today has much greater coverage. “At first the focus was placed on uterine cancer because it had the greatest impact, however the current vaccine already covers 9 serotypes of the virus and includes 90% of those that can cause cancer,” explains Montse Martínez, who In this regard, he points out that, therefore, “although it confers a lot of protection, the truth is that it does not exempt from contagion, so that this prevention measure must be part of a broader strategy that includes other measures such as sexual education or the use of the condom”.
In any case, after the introduction of vaccination in girls to curb the impact of uterine cancer and after verifying the effectiveness of this measure in the field of prevention, last year it was decided to do the same with 6th grade boys. from ESO. “HPV, although it has a greater impact on women, also affects men, who may not only suffer from genital warts due to the infection, but may also develop cancers, such as cancer of the anus or penis, the incidence of which is much less significant than that of the uterus”, indicates Martínez, so that “despite the fact that the immunization of women indirectly protects men, what really matters is their direct protection, which also contributes to cutting the transmission of the virus”, since that an infected boy can transmit the virus to a girl with whom he has sex. “It is about promoting community protection, which also translates into a commitment to equity and equality in terms of the protection of the population. With the implementation of systematic vaccination of children, equity is guaranteed in access to the vaccine and equal protection, which is a very important step,” he says.
And, as confirmed by Montse Martínez, the extension of vaccination to all 6th ESO students has been very well received. “There have been no incidents this year and, despite the fact that vaccination is a recommendation and not an obligation, our coverage is very good compared to that of other countries.” Moreover, in the 2021-2022 academic year, among girls aged 11 and 12 this was 93% in regard to the first dose and 88.5% in regard to the second. As regards coverage among boys, there is still no data, but for last year Catalonia acquired, with an investment of some 8.2 million euros, a total of 175,000 doses of the vaccine, of of which 70 thousand were allocated to men.
2023-09-06 09:49:45
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