TRICARE covers HPV vaccine

  • Published
  • By Compiled from staff reports
  • TRICARE
FALLS CHURCH, Va. --  Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a concern for girls and young women because it can lead to cervical cancer. TRICARE wants its beneficiaries to know a preventive vaccine is available, and that the vaccine is a TRICARE covered benefit.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2006, approximately 9,700 cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed in the United States, and approximately 3,700 women died from the disease. Nearly all cervical cancer cases are associated with an HPV infection.

"It is important for us to protect our beneficiaries from preventable disease whenever we can," said Army Maj. Gen. Elder Granger, deputy director, TRICARE Management Activity. "So we cover all immunizations the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends and adopts."

The CDC recommends a three-dose schedule for the HPV vaccine with the second and third doses administered two and six months after the first dose. They recommend routine vaccination with HPV for girls 11 to 12 years old. Doctors may start the vaccination series in girls as young as nine years old, and can give a catch-up vaccination to 13 to 26 years olds who have not been vaccinated previously or who have not completed the full vaccine series.

Because the vaccine is new, it may not be available everywhere. Interested beneficiaries or their parents should contact their doctors to find out if they administer the HPV vaccine.

Also, the new vaccine does not protect against every type of HPV infection and can't prevent all cervical cancers. So getting vaccinated does not eliminate the need for screening pap smears, or reduce the importance of regular gynecological exams.

For more on vaccination schedules you may visit www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm5551-Immunization.pdf