The Women's Health Program at Dick's House projects that by next September, Dartmouth will provide free vaccinations against the human papillomavirus to female students under 19 as a part of a New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services immunization project. Most current students, however, will still have to pay for the shots.
In November 2006, New Hampshire became the first state to offer free immunizations against HPV to females between 11 and 18. HPV is a common sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer and genital warts.
The NHDHHS oversees an immunization program that provides health clinics around the state with free vaccines to administer to children under 19. Gardasil, the recently FDA-approved HPV vaccine, was the latest immunization added to the list. The vaccination is administered in a series of three injections over the course of six months. The costs of the injections, typically $125, are covered by most insurance plans.
Dick's House currently provides students with the option of receiving the HPV vaccination for the standard price. Dartmouth has applied to register with the NHDHHS vaccination program, according to Elizabeth Morse, a nurse practitioner with the Women's Health department at Dick's House. Once the registration is complete, eligible students can receive the vaccination from Dick's House for free.
But because of registration timing restrictions, Morse explained, most current students will be ineligible once the registration is complete.
"We will be unable to provide free Gardasil for many current freshmen, who are turning 19 in the next weeks or months," she said. "However, we will provide it for those we can, and certainly we will be ready to immunize next year's freshman class as soon as they arrive on campus in September."
Once Dick's House implements the system, a female student will be eligible for free shots as long as she is under 19.
If she turns 19 before completing her immunization series, she will have to pay the full price for any shots she needs after her 19th birthday.
Despite the cost and delay in registration for free vaccinations, many Dartmouth females have elected to be vaccinated.
Ashley Gleason '09 has her first of three appointments Thursday. Her close friend has already gotten the first shot.
"I'm getting it to prevent getting cervical cancer," Gleason said. "But basically, my mom wanted me to get it, so I said okay."
There are 100 strains of HPV, 30 of which are sexually transmitted and infect the genitals. In 2004, the American Cancer Society estimated that 10,520 women developed cervical cancer as a result of HPV infection.
In 2006, the FDA approved the use of Gardasil for girls and women ages 9 to 26.
Though the vaccine only protects against four strains of the virus, these four cause 70 percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of genital warts.
Studies have found the vaccine to be almost 100 percent effective in preventing the diseases caused by the four targeted virus strains.
Some critics of the vaccine suggest that immunizing girls as young as 11 promotes promiscuity.
The CDC website, however, recommends that girls receive the immunization before becoming sexually active.
