What Health Systems Can Do Now to Improve Human Papillomavirus Vaccination
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine could prevent an estimated 94% of HPV-attributable or 36 500 total cancers in the United States each year. Despite this effectiveness, vaccine coverage is lower than other routine adolescent immunizations. In 2022, for the first time since 2013, HPV vaccine series initiation did not increase among adolescents. This concerning finding highlights the need for large-scale measures to support HPV vaccination. Because a majority of vaccination occurs in primary care settings, it makes sense to focus on improving the effectiveness of primary care vaccination efforts. Furthermore, an increasing number of primary care practices are part of health systems. Immunization efforts coordinated at the health system level have the potential to increase HPV vaccine coverage among a large number of adolescents by taking advantage of the growing resources of these systems.