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Many Americans still not getting HPV vaccine

But according to research published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, the vaccine for human papillomavirus, or HPV, is working, and it has succeeded in cutting the virus’ prevalence by a whopping 64 percent in teenagers since being introduced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2006. It has also reduced the virus’ prevalence by an estimated 34 percent in people ages 20 to 24.

HPV isn’t just the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US, according to the CDC; it’s also responsible for nearly all cases of cervical cancer.

Using data collected in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers compared the prevalence of HPV in a pre-vaccine era (2003 to 2006) to data from a post-vaccine time (2009 to 2012). They noticed that among teenagers (ages 14 to 19) and young adults (20 to 24), there were significant drops in HPV prevalence. Other age groups didn’t have significant changes.

The first HPV vaccine was approved in 2006. Nine months later, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that all girls ages 11 and 12 receive the vaccine. It took until 2010 for the CDC to give the OK for boys of those ages to start receiving the vaccine as well.

“A minority of females in this country have been immunized, but we’re seeing a public health impact that is quite expansive,” Dr. Amy B. Middleman, who was not involved in the study and serves as the chief of adolescent medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, told The New York Times.

According to CDC data, less than half of girls and even fewer boys had completed the three-dose series of shots in 2013. Because the vaccine is for an STI, parents tend to worry that if their kids get the vaccine, they’ll feel as if it’s acceptable to have sex. Others have expressed concerned over the safety of taking the vaccine.

This article was originally published on Business Insider. Copyright 2016.

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