To Dr. Walpole: The arguments for herd immunity are complex. Our
point was that for each vaccination, there is a greater benefit to
vaccinating women than men, based on the models developed by Kim and
Goldie as well as others. Another point is that it is probably not a
random sample of the female population that is receiving the HPV
vaccination but a bias subset of women with greater access and resources.
One can anticipate that the same segment of the male population will be
the more likely to receive vaccine. Therefore, the lowest risk populations
will achieve high penetrance of vaccination in females and males, and this
will limit the benefits of herd immunity in the general population.
Once high coverage in females is achieved, will there really be any
benefit to vaccinate males? I think that it is unrealistic to think that
we will eradicate all HPV. Current and even future vaccines will not
target all HPV.
Rapid Response:
Re: A longer term view
To Dr. Walpole: The arguments for herd immunity are complex. Our
point was that for each vaccination, there is a greater benefit to
vaccinating women than men, based on the models developed by Kim and
Goldie as well as others. Another point is that it is probably not a
random sample of the female population that is receiving the HPV
vaccination but a bias subset of women with greater access and resources.
One can anticipate that the same segment of the male population will be
the more likely to receive vaccine. Therefore, the lowest risk populations
will achieve high penetrance of vaccination in females and males, and this
will limit the benefits of herd immunity in the general population.
Once high coverage in females is achieved, will there really be any
benefit to vaccinate males? I think that it is unrealistic to think that
we will eradicate all HPV. Current and even future vaccines will not
target all HPV.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests