While young people are not vaccinated against the papillomavirus, Elisabeth Bouvet, president of the Technical Commission for Vaccinations at the High Authority for Health, says she is in favor of systematically offering this vaccine in colleges. Emmanuel Macron must make an announcement on the subject during the day.
“The school environment is a very conducive environment for vaccination” against the papillomavirus, pleads this Tuesday on franceinfo Professor Elisabeth Bouvet, president of the Technical Commission for Vaccinations at the High Authority for Health (HAS), while Emmanuel Macron must make an announcement on the subject during the day, at the occasion of a trip to Charente.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is sexually transmitted and causes more than 6,000 cancers per year. To eradicate it, a vaccine exists. The HAS had already established some recommendations in 2019, calling for the vaccination to be extended “to boys aged 11 to 14”. However, infectious disease specialist Elisabeth Bouvet notes a “delay” in vaccination coverage, with a rate of 37% for girls and 9% for boys.
franceinfo: For what reasons do you think the vaccination against the papillomavirus is slipping in France?
Elizabeth Bouvet: Perhaps the start of the campaign and the recommendations were a bit late in our country. We must therefore make up for this delay. Nevertheless, there are positive signs: vaccination coverage, that is to say the proportion of young girls vaccinated, has recently increased, and this, probably, and somewhat paradoxically, because vaccination has also been recommended in boys. The fact of advocating vaccination for children of both sexes from the age of 11 was an incentive. It allows us to better talk about vaccination and to better offer it to doctors.
What cancers can papillomaviruses cause?
The majority of HPV-related cancers are cervical cancers, but there are also rectal cancers present in men, especially those who have sex with men. Many tonsil and throat cancers are HPV-related and occur more frequently in men than women.
What exactly does the vaccine protect against?
The immune efficacy of this vaccine is excellent. With respect to HPV infections, it is very good but as these lesions take a long time to form, it takes a long time to observe the effectiveness of the vaccine. The vaccine prevents the persistence of the presence of viruses in people, and therefore it prevents precancerous lesions. We are beginning to observe in France a decrease in precancerous lesions linked to these viruses. It takes 20 years to observe a clear reduction. In countries where vaccination coverage is high, notably Australia and the United Kingdom, we are beginning to see a decrease in cervical cancers.
Should the vaccine be systematically offered at college?
I think that’s a great idea. In our recommendation made by the High Authority for Health in 2019, we said that it was important for boys to be vaccinated, that children of both sexes should be vaccinated and that the school environment was a very favorable environment for the proposal of the vaccination. We were calling for this measure to be taken, so we are happy that initiatives of this kind are taking place. One of the keys to the success of this anti-HPV vaccination campaign is that at 11-13 years of age, we can inform, offer and have vaccination carried out in schools. It has also been proposed to extend to professionals who can prescribe and then administer the vaccine, in particular pharmacists. The pharmacist is an important intermediary in the life of the French. That he can talk about vaccination with the parents, the children and that he can vaccinate, that can play an extremely important complementary role.