evidence: The HPV vaccine has already shown promise in helping to stem long-rising rates of cancers transmitted by the virus, including an estimated 31,500 cases in the United States annually of cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva, oropharynx and anus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine—beginning at age 9—in 2006 for females and in 2009 for males. But it wasn’t recommended for use in males until 2011 by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the group of medical experts that gives guidance on vaccines for the public. Worldwide studies have shown the vaccine to be virtually 100 percent effective and very safe, with the FDA concluding that the vast majority of side effects are minor, and that benefits continue to outweigh adverse events. [...] Beavis says that their findings demonstrate that parents are less concerned with the HPV vaccine’s relation to gender and sexual activity, and that public health campaigns should focus on persistent concerns about safety and necessity of the vaccine for both boys and girls in order to be responsive to parents’ true concerns. She suggests that doctors who commonly administer the HPV vaccine, including family practice physicians, obstetricians/gynecologists and pediatricians, should focus on the fact that the HPV vaccine has enormous potential to prevent cancers and has a strong safety profile from over a decade of vaccine administration. [...] The HPV vaccine can protect against nine cancer-causing strains of HPV. The recommended dosing schedule for the vaccine now involves two injections if the first is administered before age 15, or three injections if the first is administered after age 15.