Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume 204 Issue 3 August 1, 2011
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jid/current

VIRUSES
Marc Brisson, Nicolas van de Velde, Eduardo L. Franco, Mélanie Drolet, and Marie-Claude Boily
Editor’s Choice: Incremental Impact of Adding Boys to Current Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Programs: Role of Herd Immunity
J Infect Dis. (2011) 204(3): 372-376 doi:10.1093/infdis/jir285

Abstract
(See the editorial commentary by Castle and Zhao, on pages 335–7.)

Our aim was to examine the potential incremental impact of vaccinating boys against human papillomavirus (HPV) on vaccine-type infection in females and males, using an individual-based HPV transmission-dynamic model. Under base assumptions (vaccine efficacy = 99%, duration of protection = 20 years, coverage = 70%), vaccinating 12-year-old boys, in addition to girls, resulted in an incremental reduction in HPV-16/18 (HPV-6/11) incidence over 70 years of 16% (3%) in females and 23% (4%) in males. The benefit of vaccinating boys decreased with improved vaccination coverage in girls. Given the important predicted herd immunity impact of vaccinating girls under moderate to high vaccine coverage, the potential incremental gains of vaccinating boys are limited.