When his nine-year-old son went to a routine doctor’s appointment a few years ago, Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters, Ph.D., expected that he would receive a vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV). The vaccine, which protects against multiple forms of cancer caused by HPV, is recommended for pre-teen boys and girls. And can be given beginning at age nine.
Osazuwa-Peters, an associate professor of global health who studies some of the cancers caused by HPV, saw no reason to delay. But he was surprised when his son’s doctor said the vaccine could wait, since he was at low risk for HPV infection.
“I couldn’t wait for my son to receive the vaccine,” says Osazuwa-Peters, who is also in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences in the Duke School of Medicine. “And for him not to, I wasn’t happy about that.”