PREVENTION

CDC: Boys Should Get HPV Vaccine

To reduce transmission.

Michele Bachmann will not be happy about this. The Centers for Disease Control panel voted Tuesday to recommend boys as young as 11 receive the HPV vaccine. Doctors say vaccinating boys and men will help prevent transmission of the virus that causes cervical cancer to women as well as protect boys and men from cancers of the penis and rectum. Although the vaccine has been approved for men since 2009, it hasn’t been heavily promoted for them. HPV is the No. 1 sexually transmitted disease in the U.S.; at least 50 percent of sexually active people will have it at some point in their lives. The vaccine is already recommended for girls between the ages of 11 and 26.