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Every year, around 13 million Americans, or 4% of the entire U.S. population, contract HPV.

“Nationally we see that … HPV (is) the most common STI,” said Shannon Hefti, the assistant director for health education and outreach at Syracuse University’s The Barnes Center at The Arch. “The reason for that is because there are so many strands. There are over 40 strains that are sexually trasmitted.”

Noel Brewer, a distinguished professor in public health at the University of North Carolina, said that HPV vaccination rates in the United States are below the national goals for all ages. But 39.9% of 18-26 year olds were vaccinated in 2018. SU will hold an HPV vaccine clinic on Tuesday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Barnes Center, though the university does not mandate the vaccine.

Students can sign up for the clinic through SU’s patient portal, Hefti said. When signing up, students will indicate if they have started their HPV vaccine series.

“If they have not started the series, they will get their first shot in the series and that’s essentially what (the event) is,” Hefti said. “The provider would (then) provide them education surrounding the HPV vaccine.”

The vaccines protect against the sexually transmitted virus which, in addition to causing warts on both peoples’ genitals and hands, can lead to certain cancers, according to the Mayo Clinic. About 10% of cervical HPV cases will lead to a long-lasting infection that may become cancerous, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SU Graduate School Dean Peter Vanable, who has published research regarding HPV, wrote in an email to The Daily Orange that it’s “wonderful” that the Barnes Center is hosting a pop-up HPV vaccine clinic.

“College students still can benefit from the vaccine series,” he continued. “Those (who) have not been vaccinated yet really (should) give it serious consideration.”

According to the CDC, the ideal age to get the first vaccination is 11 or 12 years old. But Hefti said this can create some problems for college students.

“Most students don’t know whether or not they have received the vaccine,” Hefit said. “So a lot of it comes down to education and awareness about talking with their parents, talking with their doctors.”

Because most people first get the vaccine at a young age, the medical decision falls more on the child’s guardian and doctors.

The HPV vaccine, which is distributed as Gardasil-9 in the U.S., is not mandated by the United States public system, Hefti said. The Syracuse City School District, under New York state’s guidelines, does not mandate the vaccine, unlike the MMR and Polio vaccines.

With this, parents have the option to not have their child take the vaccine.

“(For) many parents, when it comes to the HPV vaccine, the thing is ‘well, it’s not like my child is sexually active?’” Hefit said.

Vanable said this mindset can extend to doctors as well.

“Some doctors may be uncomfortable talking about the fact that HPV is a sexually transmitted infection,” Vanable wrote. “Discussion about that fact with parents of young children can be a little bit tricky and takes time to do a good job with it.”

Outside of vaccination, SU students can also protect themselves through other means, both Vanable and Hefti said.

University students can utilize the Barnes Center’s Safer Sex Express to order external condoms, internal condoms, oral dams, lubricant and hand protection, the program’s website reads. Hefti added that the program supplies students living both on and off campus.

“HPV infection is so highly prevalent that the most sensible approach to protecting oneself against consequences of HPV infection (is) getting the HPV vaccine series,” Vanable wrote.

Published on November 15, 2022 at 12:27 am

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard