Barriers to HPV Vaccination

Despite the vast advances in health care and the technology that continues to simplify care for persons with maladies, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) [specifically human papilloma virus (HPV)] continue to plague the world. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in United States (Bratic, Seyferth, Bocchini Jr., & Bocchini, 2016). It affects roughly 79 million Americans, and there are about 14 million people at risk for contracting this disease every year. HPV does not discriminate and affects both men and women, as well as persons of all races, and all gender and sexual orientations including queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, and heterosexual. HPV is so common that nearly all sexually active men and women will get the virus at some point in their lives. Approximately $8 billion is spent annually on the management of HPV infections, exceeding the economic burden of any other sexually transmitted infection except human immunodeficiency virus (Centers for Disease Control, 2016a). Clearly, HPV can affect all people in the United States in some way