HPV Vaccine Less Likely To Help Black Women Because Clinical Trials Were Mostly White

ThinkProgress

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that has cut teen girls’ risk of cancer in half is less likely to shield African American women, according to new research unveiled Monday. Black women, who have higher rates of cervical cancer than the general population, are susceptible to different strains of HPV than the most common types for white women. Unfortunately, the only approved HPV vaccines in the US target the strains that most affect white women, leaving black women more or less unprotected.

Cancer epidemiologists at Duke University School of Medicine found that black and white women with precancerous cervical abnormalities contracted almost completely different types of HPV. This major divergence, researchers said, highlights how lack of ethnic diversity in clinical trials can skew new treatments and therapies. Senior author Catherine Hoyo explained that the two trials for the vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix failed to include “enough people of African descent,” adding, “We may be rethinking the vaccine itself.”