Vaccines against HPV also for children, a sexually transmitted infection to which 90% of adults are exposed

• Study The rate of cervical cancer is reduced by 87% in those vaccinated against the human papillomavirus

• Research They discover that the human papillomavirus could also cause prostate cancer

In Spain today there are some 266,000 12-year-olds who are candidates to be vaccinated against a

throughout their lives

.

Not only with the vaccine against the human papillomavirus will they overcome these health problems, but they will also help to

.

In twenty European countries, thirty in the world, there is health coverage for this puncture.

has recently announced that from next year

and Galicia follows in its wake.

The vaccine is recommended by the Vaccine Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), but

, a fact that does not happen with girls.

Health sources assure this newspaper that the Health Vaccines Report is already studying taking this step, and even dare to say that it

.

Since 2006 this vaccine has been approved, but only in women.

Federico Martinón-Torres, member of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines of the World Health Organization and head of Pediatrics at the University Clinical Hospital of Santiago: "

, producing both asymptomatic infections, such as

, as well as some cases,

."

The importance of preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is that 85-90% of sexually active men and women will acquire HPV at some point in their lives.

"That is why it is important that boys and girls receive the two doses of the vaccine before the age of 15, before they have their first relationships," underlines José Manuel Moreno, medical director and co-director of the Department of Pediatrics at the University Clinic. of Navarre.

The AEP advises the use of the 9-

(against the nine most common subtypes of the pathogen), "although since 2016 we have recommended

", points out Ángel Hernández -Merino, advisor to the Vaccines Committee of the AEP.

Faced with this situation, Martinón-Torres explains that "until now we had focused mainly on

cancer , the most frequent, and exclusive to women.

, are less frequent, but they lack alternative detection systems that allow us to carry out secondary prevention".

Pediatricians and vaccine experts have been recommending HPV vaccination for boys for four years now.

Hernández-Merino says that "we already know that

."

He does not hesitate to point out that there are more than twenty countries in the world that include it because "above all it is effective and safe", but also because in the medium term "

".

For this reason, Moreno points out that "in this time we have seen that the vaccine has a clear utility in the prevention of precancerous lesions and this has led to a drop in the incidence of tumor cases in women."

In this sense, Martinón-Torres adds that "although they are only related to the virus in 25-30% of cases, they are on the rise, and account for a very significant number of tumors, both in men and women, and as a whole, there are already countries in which this cancer is more frequent than that of the cervix".

The data from the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network provided by the AEP from Health point out that

, "in boys, although the vaccine can be given for payment, there is no good record of the doses that are given and there is a lot of disparity between communities," explains Hernández-Merino.

Another problem is that there are

on their territories, without any explanation of the causes:

.

In the case of Aragon and the Balearic Islands, the lack of transparency on vaccination coverage "has been going on for years. And we have not been able to save that stumbling block," the AEP spokesman emphasizes.

Science has shown in recent years the usefulness of the vaccine as a preventive weapon.

"We are not yet certain that

, although this is likely to be the case. We are currently collecting data and actively monitoring whether in the first cohorts of subjects vaccinated against HPV are also reducing these tumors, which will give us the definitive scientific evidence", explains Martinón-Torres.

In general,

.

"Therefore, the importance continues to be significantly greater in women, but it is by no means negligible in men. In

, the incidence of pathology related to human papillomavirus is

, which makes them a group of particularly high risk, which is why this indication is also free in our country, as is the indication in women".

All the experts say that also immunizing men against HPV "would be desirable

, and because it would

managing to control the circulation of the virus earlier and, therefore, therefore, advance the elimination of cervical cancer, the objective set by the WHO", point out both Martinón-Torres and Hernández-Merino.

Taking this step means

and "we must also actively rescue and vaccinate all the girls or women who, due to hoaxes, unfounded fears or manipulation, left to get vaccinated on the day," Moreno points out.

In summary, as Martinón-Torres concludes, "vaccinating men can allow us to accelerate the global benefits of vaccination, but also protect them equitably. It is a strategic opportunity for public health, without a doubt."

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