State Rolls Out New Vaccine for Cervical Cancer

Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen said the state has moved quickly to get its hands on the vaccine for human papilloma virus, or HPV.

T.2
:08 we have just completed a contract with the CDC to offer the vaccine...through the state's vaccines program.

HPV is the nation's most common sexually transmitted disease.

According to the Center for Disease Control about 6.2 million Americans contract the virus each year.

And over time HPV can lead to cervical cancer.

Susan Crosby is President of Women in Government, a national organization representing female legislators.

Crosby predicts the vaccine, which was approved in June, marks a moment people will remember.

1:55 5-10 years from now, people are going to look back and say wasn't this fantastic. This was our first break through, we finally figured out what caused the cancer and that helped us develop these other techniques and treatments to eliminate lung cancer, colon cancer, whatever.

State health officials warn getting everybody vaccinated is a little tricky.

A young woman must receive three doses.

Girls between the ages of 11 and 18 often don't see a doctor that frequently.

And it costs $120 a dose.

The price tag isn't such a big issue for patients in New Hampshire, but it is an expense that insurance companies must shoulder.

State law requires insurance companies to pay into a pool that helps cover the cost of about a dozen different children's vaccines.

Now, add one more rather expensive vaccine to that list.

It is not clear whether insurance companies will find a way to pass that cost along to consumers in other ways.

But Michael Dumand with the state Immunization Program says the payment pool isn't as punitive as it may sound.

T.5
7:05 what happens is if they don't have a state supplying it like we do, the physicians have to go out, order the vaccine, pay top dollar for it, the market price is $120 per dose. We are able to get it for $99 per dose. We are also able to help with distribution...so they would be paying anyway is what my point is.

Insurance companies will pick up about 3.6 million dollars, or 75% of the estimated cost of the vaccine.

Dumand says young women over the age of 18 are not covered by the state program.

However, the national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends women up to age 26 get the vaccine.

Kaiser Family Foundation's Alina Salganicoff says those women can't be ignored.

:30 this is the group of women that are the most likely to be uninsured, to be low-income, and there aren't any public sources of financing to pay for the vaccine. So these women are looking at out-of-pocket costs at around $360 which can be quite sizeable particularly if you are low-income or uninsured.

HHS estimates that about 17,000 women in New Hampshire will get vaccinated in 2007.

That is 25% of the young women eligible for the free vaccine.

For NHPR News, I'm DG.