HPV Fast Facts

HPV is the most common STI.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States by far, with 42.5 million infection cases in 2018 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021). HPV infections outnumber all other STIs combined. Nearly all sexually active people will get at least one type of HPV during their lifetime if they don’t receive the HPV vaccine.

There is harm in not receiving the HPV vaccine.

Certain types of HPV can cause deadly cervical, anal, vaginal, vulvar and throat cancers in women, and throat, anal and penile cancers in men. The HPV vaccine is highly effective—it prevents more than 90 percent of cancers caused by HPV. The CDC began recommending the HPV vaccine for adolescents in 2006. Studies show the vaccine is safe and offers long-lasting protection. Yet, just 58.6 percent of U.S. adolescents ages 13 through 17 years were fully vaccinated in 2020, leaving more than 40 percent of U.S. adolescents not fully protected against future cancers (CDC, 2021).

Texas HPV vaccination rates are below the national average. An estimated 54.9 percent of Texas adolescents ages 13 through 17 years have received all recommended doses of HPV vaccine (America’s Health Rankings, 2021), leaving about 45 percent of the state’s adolescents in that vulnerable age group not fully vaccinated.

In Texas, about 3,200 HPV-related cancers are diagnosed annually (Texas Department of State Health Services [DSHS], 2020).

The HPV vaccine works best in young adolescents.

Preteen girls and boys are in special need of the HPV vaccine. They should receive the two-dose HPV vaccine series at ages 11 or 12 years, according to federal immunization guidelines. HPV vaccines offer the greatest health benefits to individuals who receive both doses before becoming sexually active with another person. HPV can spread through anal, vaginal or oral sex, or even through other skin-to-skin contact during genital-to-genital or oral-to-genital intimacy.

Adolescents who don’t receive an initial HPV vaccination until age 15 years or older need a three-dose HPV vaccine series.