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Incremental impact of adding boys to current human papillomavirus vaccination programs: role of herd immunity
Marc Brisson1, Nicolas van de Velde, Eduardo L Franco
1Unité de Recherche en Santé des Populations, Centre de Recherche Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec du Centre Hospitalier affilié Universitaire de Québec, Canada. marc.brisson@uresp.ulaval.ca
Abstract:
Our aim was to examine the potential incremental impact of vaccinating boys against human papillomavirus (HPV) on vaccine-type infection in females and males, using an individual-based HPV transmission-dynamic model. Under base assumptions (vaccine efficacy = 99%, duration of protection = 20 years, coverage = 70%), vaccinating 12-year-old boys, in addition to girls, resulted in an incremental reduction in HPV-16/18 (HPV-6/11) incidence over 70 years of 16% (3%) in females and 23% (4%) in males. The benefit of vaccinating boys decreased with improved vaccination coverage in girls. Given the important predicted herd immunity impact of vaccinating girls under moderate to high vaccine coverage, the potential incremental gains of vaccinating boys are limited.
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