When the Merck and Co.’s “Tell Someone” commercials about the Human Papillomavirus were first broadcasted, the catch phrase instantly became the social circle joke amongst Carlyn Helmuth’s friends.
They would sarcastically ask people if they had “told someone,” stirring up chuckles from those around them.
But two months later, despite the knowledge of HPV, Helmuth still has not gotten the HPV vaccine and neither have her friends. The cost and the social stigma related with the vaccine have deterred her.
“It is not a vaccine for the flu, so it is kind of admitting your sexual history to a stranger,” said Helmuth a SMU senior. “I’m a modest person so I would have a hard time doing that.”
The rest of the Southern Methodist University female student body is not any different from Helmuth.
Only about 25 to 30 college women have received the vaccine from the SMU Health Center, which began offering the vaccine in late September immediately after it was approved by the FDA, according to Charlotte Rohr, a nurse at the Health Center.
Women make up 49.1 percent of the SMU student population. With 11,152 students enrolled, there are about 5,475 women who could choose to get the vaccine at the SMU Health Center. But only .5 percent of SMU college women have utilized the SMU Health Center vaccine so far.
“I would have expected that SMU students would be well-informed and that there would be more than 30 students receiving the vaccine at the Health Center,” said Dr. Nancy Merrill of the SMU Health Center.
According to the HPV vaccine handout given at the SMU Health Center, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus in the United States and every year about 10,000 women get cervical cancer and 3,700 die from it. About 20 million people in the U.S. are already infected and 6.2 million more get infected each year.
There is no way of knowing how many SMU women have chosen to get the HPV vaccine elsewhere, but Merrill believes that probably not a lot of women have.
“I wouldn’t think that a lot of students are getting it off campus if they have to pay for it out of pocket,” Merrill said. “The advantage of getting it here is you can charge it home.”
The cost of the HPV vaccine is an issue because the vaccine is not covered by insurance yet.
“The biggest obstacle for the vaccine is the cost, but it is cheaper here [the SMU Health Center],” said Nancy Merrill. “We charge $150 and most physicians’ offices charge $220 for it.”
But the vaccine requires three doses, bringing the total up to $450, a price many college women are unwilling to pay.
According to Merrill, any new vaccine is expensive, but the cost will come down over time. Merck Co, which originally introduced the vaccine, will soon have direct competition driving the cost down.
“My dad’s insurance said they would start paying whatever it is they pay for it next year, and since I don’t see myself in immediate danger, it is cheaper to wait,” said Barbara Kunzinger, a SMU senior.
Merrill hopes that insurance companies will cover the cost of the vaccine by the end of next summer
Helmuth may not have received the vaccine yet, despite her knowledge of the product, but she would if the cost was lower.
“If it was covered by insurance, I would totally get it,” said Helmuth.
Merrill believes that the women who are receiving the vaccine chose to do so because they are well-informed, aware of the risk associated with having HPV, or they have friends who have had cervical cancer and have seen what they have had to go through.
“I decided to get the vaccine because HPV is a very common virus and two of my best friends from high school have HPV and when the vaccine come out I decided it was extremely important to get it” said Jennifer Simon, a SMU junior, who has already received the first of the three doses for the HPV vaccine.
Other than the cost, students may not be pursuing the HPV vaccine because of a lack of education on the HPV virus.
But one thing many students may not know is that if anyone has had three or more sexual partners, or if their partner has had three or more sexual partners, they have a 70 percent chance of contracting HPV, according to Merrill.
Merrill even suggests that women who have already contracted HPV get the vaccine because it will protect them against the other types of HPV.
“College women probably are not getting the vaccine because of a lack of knowledge and understanding of how common HPV is and how a vaccine is available,” said Karen Click, the director of the SMU Women’s Center. “I think we have to start looking at every avenue to tell women about this.”
The number of women pursuing the HPV vaccine is expected to increase in the near future with lowered cost and increased education. The SMU Health Center also hopes to push the HPV vaccine now that the number of students coming in for the influenza vaccine is slowing down.
“I definitely expect numbers to increase in the future,” said Merrill. “We are going to do a big marketing campaign in January to see if we can get more students to get it.”
