Stop! Look! And Vaccinate

A look at the Gardasil-9 HPV vaccine

minutes.

If you’re a Toronto commuter, chances are you’ve been seeing the Gardasil-9 advertisements on your daily travels. Young adults raised in Ontario may be looking at these posters thinking, “Hey, I got that in middle school!” In fact, roughly 60 percent of seventh grade children in Ontario have received a full course of a Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

What is HPV and its vaccination?

HPV is a viral infection that can be the cause of certain wart clusters and cancers. The most common cancers associated with an HPV infection include cervical, anal, penile, vaginal, vulval, and throat cancer. In some patients, cervical cancer can develop over 20 years after the initial infection. HPV spreads through skin-to-skin and sexual contact as well as in the womb. Vaccinations against HPV help protect against the spread of the virus, lowering your risk of associated cancers.

Roughly 75 percent of sexually active Canadians will contract an HPV infection in their lifetime, and most who do won’t know it. In fact, estimates suggest that one Canadian develops genital warts every ten

All seventh grade students in Ontario are eligible to receive the HPV vaccine for free while at school with the written consent of their parents. Those who missed the complete series can receive the vaccine for free at their Public Health Unit until their high school graduation.

Students like me, who were vaccinated before 2015, likely received the original Gardasil vaccine. This version of the vaccine covered HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18, while Gardasil-9 covers these as well as types 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58. The new vaccine covers a total of nine strains of HPV and prevents 90 percent of genital warts. If already infected with one kind of genital warts, the vaccine will help protect you against the remaining eight.

How vaccination works

If you decide to get vaccinated with the Gardasil-9 vaccine, speak with a healthcare professional to determine whether it is right for you. Ideally, you will receive your second dose two months after your first dose and then your third dose four months after your second. Some side effects of the vaccine are typical and include discomfort at the site of the infection as well as headache, fever, nausea, and dizziness.

In Ontario, self-identified men who have sex with men and are under the age of 26 are eligible for all three doses of the vaccine for free at public health clinics or through their primary care provider. Other members of the population may be eligible for up to full coverage of the vaccine through their private health insurance. Otherwise, vaccines cost approximately $215 per dose, or $645 for the full series.