Vaccinating teenage girls against the human papilloma virus does not impact their sexual behavior, according to a recent study from Queen's University.
There are concerns the vaccine, which guards against four types of the HPV shown to cause cervical cancer and anogenital warts, may give girls a false sense of security about contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and lead them to engage in riskier sexual activity.
"These findings suggests fears of increased risky sexual behavior following HPV vaccination are unwarranted and should not be a barrier to vaccinating at a young age," Dr. Leah Smith, the lead author of the study that was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, said in a statement.
For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from a cohort of more than 260,000 girls.
The researchers followed the girls until March 31 of their Grade 12 year. About six percent of girls became pregnant or contracted an STI between Grades 10 and 12, with 10,187 pregnancies and 6,259 cases of non-HPV-related sexually transmitted infections.
"Neither HPV vaccination nor program eligibility increased the risk of pregnancy nor non-HPV-related STIs among females aged 14-17 years," said Dr. Linda Levesque, senior author of the study.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all boys and girls receive "three HPV shots, which protects against multiple strains of the virus, which can cause cervical, anal, penile and throat cancer," Reuters reported.
Since 2006, the HPV vaccine has been licensed in almost 100 countries, including Canada. Many of these countries have national HPV vaccination programs to protect young girls against the virus before they become sexually active.
