Can School-Located Vaccination Have a Major Impact on Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Rates in the United States?

Abstract

School-local vaccination (SLV) has been a highly effective method of increasing rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in many countries internationally in which vaccines are purchased by national, regional, or local public health authorities and offered free of charge within schools. However, the effectiveness of SLV for increasing HPV vaccination rates in the United States is likely to be substantially limited due to a number of identified barriers, the most significant of which is with the need to bill for vaccines among adolescents not covered under the Vaccines for Children Program. HPV vaccination within school-based health centers (SBHCs) has been much more effective than SLV, but SBHCs exist in only 2% of schools in the United States. The opportunity gap between the United States and other countries will remain unless reimbursement issues related to HPV delivery in schools can be addressed in a sustainable manner or SBHCs become much more common.

Keywords: human papillomavirus; immunization; school; school-based health centers; school-located vaccination; vaccine.