| Releases
& Statements
For Immediate Release:
March 7, 2007
Contact: Frank Sobrino
O: (212) 669-4193; C: (646) 250-4322
Gotbaum:
Lifesaving HPV Vaccination
Not Offered at Many City Clinics
None of the City’s public health
clinics for the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted
diseases offers vaccinations against the human papillomavirus,
the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States
that is responsible for 70 percent of the country’s cervical
cancer cases, according to a report released today by Public Advocate
Betsy Gotbaum.
Although the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention recommends that all girls, starting at age 11,
receive an HPV vaccination, Gotbaum found that neither the City’s
11 STD clinics, nor its five immunization centers, offer the vaccine.
Gotbaum found that the HPV vaccine was available at 35 of the
67 City-run child and teen health clinics.
At $360 for three doses, the cost
of the HPV vaccine is prohibitive for many uninsured or low-income
families. Medicaid enrollees can receive the vaccine for free,
and the uninsured may also be eligible through the federally funded
Vaccines for Children program. Only 17 of the 35 clinics that
offered the vaccine charged no out-of-pocket costs. Eighteen clinics
charged for the HPV vaccine, with one clinic requiring patients
without health insurance to pay $510.
The CDC estimates that approximately
20 million Americans have HPV, with almost 6.2 million becoming
infected each year. From 1999 to 2003, there was an annual average
of 489 cervical cancer cases and 155 deaths from cervical cancer
a year in New York City.
“Given the number of women diagnosed
with cervical cancer, it’s clear the City can’t ignore
this health crisis,” Gotbaum said. “Every woman should
have affordable access to the HPV vaccine to reduce the risk of
developing cervical cancer.”
In her report, Gotbaum also pointed
out that neither the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website
nor 311 provide any information on where to obtain the HPV vaccine
in New York City. To address the problems she identified in her
report, the Public Advocate made these recommendations:
• Offer the HPV vaccine at DOHMH’s
immunization walk-in clinics and STD walk-in clinics and at all
of the Health and Hospitals Corporation’s (HHC) child and
teen health clinics.
• Train all applicable staff
at immunization clinics, STD clinics, and child and teen health
clinics so that they are knowledgeable about the circumstances
in which a child is eligible to receive the HPV vaccine for free
or at little cost under the federally funded Vaccines for Children
program.
• City physicians and nurses
should advise the parents or legal guardians of female child and
teen patients about the HPV vaccine.
• Monitor the Citywide Immunization
Registry for HPV vaccines to track the number of girls and women
obtaining the vaccine. Where appropriate, efforts should be made
by DOHMH to increase awareness about the HPV vaccine and cervical
cancer.
• Update the DOHMH and HHC websites to include information
on where to obtain the HPV vaccine at immunization and STD walk-in
clinics and at child and teen health centers.
• Provide accurate HPV vaccine
information through 311.
“More must be done to keep New
York City women healthy and safe from a common, but preventable
disease,” Gotbaum said. “The City must follow the
recommendations of the medical community and make this potentially
lifesaving vaccine available to all girls and women.”
* * *
No
Shot at Prevention: HPV Vaccine Unavailable at Many City Health
Clinics (PDF) March 2007
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