Congrats Planned Parenthood of St. Louis!
The vaccine is going to be free! Absolutely free to all women that fit the demographic! (which is all females from 9-26!)
Grant will buy HPV vaccine in Missouri
By Tina Hesman Saey
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/17/2007
WHAT IT DOES • Prevents some strains of virus that can cause cervical cancer.
WHO'S ELIGIBLE • Missouri girls and women age 9 to 26 whose insurance won't pay for it.
The Missouri Foundation for Health announced Tuesday that it would buy a cervical cancer vaccine for 30,000 Missouri girls and women aged 9 to 26 who don't have insurance or whose insurance doesn't cover the vaccine.
The grant of $11 million is the largest sum contributed by a non-governmental organization to protect women from several common strains of human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer and genital warts. The grant is also the largest in the foundation's six-year history.
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The grant will go to the Missouri Family Health Council and Missouri Primary Care Association for distributing the vaccine to 92 health centers throughout most of the state, officials from all three organizations said at a press conference at the Grace Hill-Murphy O'Fallon Health Center.
"This is a tremendously generous and visionary grant to help those of us in the provider community take a giant leap forward in protecting women against cervical cancer," said Paula Gianino, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis.
The cost of the vaccine - $360 for a six-month regimen of three shots - has been an obstacle for many women and parents who want the vaccine for their daughters, Gianino said. Many private insurance companies and government insurance programs added the vaccine to their list of covered items shortly after the Food and Drug Administration approved it last summer. But many insurance companies don't cover the vaccine, and women and girls who don't have insurance are often unable to foot the bill themselves, she said.
"We believe we'll be able to cover, at the completion of the program, everyone that insurance won't," said Dr. James R. Kimmey, president and chief executive of the Missouri Foundation for Health.
About 12,000 women in the United States are diagnosed each year with cervical cancer, and 4,000 die from it, Kimmey said. Hispanic and African-American women are disproportionately affected, he said.
Cervical cancer is the 11th most common cause of cancer among women in the U.S., and the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide.
Up to 70 percent of adults are exposed to one of the hundreds of strains of human papilloma virus in their lifetime, Gianino said. Some strains cause plantar warts or warts on the hands. Those strains are not sexually transmitted. But about 30 strains are transmitted through sexual contact, and many have been linked to genital warts or cervical cancer.
The vaccine, made by Merck & Co. Inc., protects against two human papilloma virus strains that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and two strains responsible for about 90 percent of genital warts cases, said Dr. Sandra Ahlum, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Hannibal (Mo.) Clinic. The vaccine, called Gardasil, doesn't protect against other strains of human papilloma virus or other sexually-transmitted diseases.
Ahlum proposed the grant program to the foundation's board last fall. Much of her practice involves screening for and treating complications of human papilloma virus infections, she said. Pre-cancerous changes caused by human papilloma virus require expensive and invasive treatments.
"The procedures are costly to patients and traumatic. They hurt," Ahlum said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that $4 billion is spent on screening and managing the results of abnormal Pap tests each year.
Distribution of the vaccine could begin at the end of the month at pilot sites in St. Louis. The other health centers should have the vaccine by March, Kimmey said.
The Missouri Foundation for Health was established in 2000 from conversion of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Missouri into the nonprofit. The foundation does not cover 27 counties in northwestern Missouri. Those counties are covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. A foundation similar to the Missouri Foundation for Health operates in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Grant will buy HPV vaccine in Missouri
By Tina Hesman Saey
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/17/2007
WHAT IT DOES • Prevents some strains of virus that can cause cervical cancer.
WHO'S ELIGIBLE • Missouri girls and women age 9 to 26 whose insurance won't pay for it.
The Missouri Foundation for Health announced Tuesday that it would buy a cervical cancer vaccine for 30,000 Missouri girls and women aged 9 to 26 who don't have insurance or whose insurance doesn't cover the vaccine.
The grant of $11 million is the largest sum contributed by a non-governmental organization to protect women from several common strains of human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer and genital warts. The grant is also the largest in the foundation's six-year history.
Advertisement
The grant will go to the Missouri Family Health Council and Missouri Primary Care Association for distributing the vaccine to 92 health centers throughout most of the state, officials from all three organizations said at a press conference at the Grace Hill-Murphy O'Fallon Health Center.
"This is a tremendously generous and visionary grant to help those of us in the provider community take a giant leap forward in protecting women against cervical cancer," said Paula Gianino, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis.
The cost of the vaccine - $360 for a six-month regimen of three shots - has been an obstacle for many women and parents who want the vaccine for their daughters, Gianino said. Many private insurance companies and government insurance programs added the vaccine to their list of covered items shortly after the Food and Drug Administration approved it last summer. But many insurance companies don't cover the vaccine, and women and girls who don't have insurance are often unable to foot the bill themselves, she said.
"We believe we'll be able to cover, at the completion of the program, everyone that insurance won't," said Dr. James R. Kimmey, president and chief executive of the Missouri Foundation for Health.
About 12,000 women in the United States are diagnosed each year with cervical cancer, and 4,000 die from it, Kimmey said. Hispanic and African-American women are disproportionately affected, he said.
Cervical cancer is the 11th most common cause of cancer among women in the U.S., and the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide.
Up to 70 percent of adults are exposed to one of the hundreds of strains of human papilloma virus in their lifetime, Gianino said. Some strains cause plantar warts or warts on the hands. Those strains are not sexually transmitted. But about 30 strains are transmitted through sexual contact, and many have been linked to genital warts or cervical cancer.
The vaccine, made by Merck & Co. Inc., protects against two human papilloma virus strains that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and two strains responsible for about 90 percent of genital warts cases, said Dr. Sandra Ahlum, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Hannibal (Mo.) Clinic. The vaccine, called Gardasil, doesn't protect against other strains of human papilloma virus or other sexually-transmitted diseases.
Ahlum proposed the grant program to the foundation's board last fall. Much of her practice involves screening for and treating complications of human papilloma virus infections, she said. Pre-cancerous changes caused by human papilloma virus require expensive and invasive treatments.
"The procedures are costly to patients and traumatic. They hurt," Ahlum said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that $4 billion is spent on screening and managing the results of abnormal Pap tests each year.
Distribution of the vaccine could begin at the end of the month at pilot sites in St. Louis. The other health centers should have the vaccine by March, Kimmey said.
The Missouri Foundation for Health was established in 2000 from conversion of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Missouri into the nonprofit. The foundation does not cover 27 counties in northwestern Missouri. Those counties are covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. A foundation similar to the Missouri Foundation for Health operates in the Kansas City metropolitan area.