St. Jude reminds parents of vaccine for children that can prevent cancer

Doctor talking to little boy

This article was posted on Fox 23. Read more here. 

It’s almost time to go back to school. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital wants to make sure children get the one vaccine that can prevent cancer.

FOX23 spoke with Dr. Heather Brandt, director of the HPC Cancer Prevention Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She wants parents to know the HPV vaccine is 90 percent effective at preventing cancer and has been for nearly 20 years.

“It is the only vaccine available that prevents multiple types of cancer and it works really well. One of the things that our program also tries to emphasize is the safety of this vaccination to reassure parents and caregivers, those who are making vaccination decisions for children, that this is a very safe vaccine. More than 18 years of safety and monitoring data show us this,” said Dr. Brandt.

The vaccine is recommended for kids between nine and 12-years-old.

Dr. Brandt says to ask your doctor about it when you’re there for a checkup or back to school shots.

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