Hall Health to subsidize HPV vaccine for students

Starting next month, the UW will begin to offer free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations for students with UW health insurance plans.

The offer comes thanks to a settlement received by the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Life from a former health care provider. The settlement was incorporated into the 2008 budget.

The question of how to spend the surplus was made during the office’s annual insurance planning meeting in the spring of 2007, when board members voted to allocate funding for HPV vaccines.

“It was a brainstorming idea,” said Darlene Feikema, director of the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Life. “One of the staff members on the committee was talking about… things that could be done with this money [and came up with HPV vaccines].”

The UW has long been at the center of HPV research. Laura Koutsky, a professor of epidemiology, played a central role in creating a vaccine for the virus.

Rachel Winer, an acting instructor of epidemiology who works with Koutsky, explained the prevalence of the disease.

“It’s the causal agent of cervical cancer, but it’s also a very common virus among sexually active people,” she said.

Winer recently conducted a study that showed nearly a third of females aged 18-22 who had only one sexual partner became infected with HPV within one year, and nearly 50 percent had after three years.

Winer believes the vaccine is a good idea but cautions that “it’s important to vaccinate women before they become sexually active for the maximum benefit.”

The UW’s subsidized vaccination announcement comes as governments around the world are taking steps to immunize their populations against the sexually transmitted infection.

Last year, Virginia and Texas mandated that female sixth-graders be vaccinated and similar legislation is pending in dozens of other states.

The European Union has also expressed interest in vaccinating its population against the disease, and England’s Department of Health will begin vaccinating 12- and 13-year-olds beginning this fall.

Another Seattle corollary in the HPV vaccine story is PATH, a Seattle-based non-governmental organization that will soon be providing the HPV vaccine to patients in less wealthy countries.

“What our project is about basically is how to effectively use these vaccines and do screening for older women,” said Scott Wittet, PATH’s Director for Advocacy Training for the HVP Vaccine.

Wittet hopes PATH’s projects in Peru, Vietnam, Uganda and India can serve as blueprints for future organizations doing vaccinations and show them “how to use these tools effectively in low resource settings.”

Students who wish to receive the vaccine will be able to apply for the student subsidy online and then be administered the vaccine at Hall Health; the HPV vaccine will be paid for by the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Life.

A series of three vaccinations are required for immunity to the virus, and despite not having to pay $165 for the shots, each students must pay $20 per shot when they arrive at Hall Health.

Feikema is optimistic that with the increase in previously vaccinated students entering the UW, the vaccine will soon become a permanent fixture of the student health care plan.

“We anticipate that we’ll be able to do this until the numbers are much smaller, at which time we can wrap this into the student insurance program,” she said.

[Reach reporter Jake Sommer at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]