Only three states in America are mandating the recommended Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) immunization as a requirement for attending school, a recent study discovered.

Virginia, Washington D.C., and Rhode Island are the trio that (and will) compel students to have the immunization along with other vaccines routinely recommended for preteens and teens: the hepatitis B, chickenpox and meningitis vaccines.

Like Us on Facebook

In 2006, the first HPV vaccine was approved and soon enough the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices suggested that all boys and girls aged 11 or 12 years should have the vaccine.

But almost a decade after the recommendation by the CDC, only D.C. and Virginia have required kids to be immunized against HPV and Rhode Island followed steps passing its own guidelines which will be enforced in August, Philly.com reported.

"Our study can't answer the question of why," Jason Schwartz, a bioethics researcher at Princeton University in New Jersey said. "We can only show that there's a stark difference between HPV and these other vaccines."

Eight years following the CDC's similar recommendation for hepatitis B vaccine and the varicella or chicken pox vaccine, the vaccine for hepatitis was mandated in D.C. and 36 other states, while the varicella vaccine was required in D.C. and 38 other states, the study noted, NPR has learned.

The HPV immunization protects an individual from multiple strains of papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted pathogen that causes anal, cervical, penile and throat cancer.

Data from CDC revealed that in 2013, less than half of girls and even fewer boys had completed the three dose series of shots.

Probably one of the reasons why HPV vaccines have a different treatment than previous vaccines is the initial push to mandate the former in 2006 after its approval which may have appeared premature and left a "bitter taste" for policymakers, Schwartz noted, according to Reuters.

Some parents also reportedly worry that HPV vaccination would imply an approval for kids to engage in sex. But then a number of evidences back up the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, and there were studies proving that getting the shots does not encourage kids to participate in risky sexual activities.

A CDC spokesman also supports the efficacy of the vaccine.

 "Since the vaccine was first recommended in 2006, there has been a 56 percent reduction in vaccine type HPV infections among teen girls in the U.S., even with very low HPV vaccination rates," the spokesperson told Reuters Health through email. "Research has also shown that fewer teens are getting genital warts."

Schwartz noted that support for the HPV vaccination "has consistently emphasized" that it should be treated just like any other vaccination.

 "We should normalize the way we think and talk about it, and also how we think about requirements," he said.

Despite the fact that the three states are listing HPV vaccine as school requirement, Virginia and D.C. reportedly have provided exemptions which means that even if the parents refuse to have their children vaccinated against HPV, they can still send them to school.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

TagsHPV vaccine, Virginia, washington d.c., rhode island, Cancer