The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that African-American women are twice as likely to get cervical cancer from HPV, the Human Papilloma Virus, than white women. Data also reports that Black women have the highest mortality rate of any racial group in America. Gardasil® is the vaccine known most in the US for preventing cervical cancer caused by HPV, but it only prevents against some types of cancer-causing HPV and not the types that are most prevalent (or “that will protect against cervical cancer”) in the Black community.
Health Reporter Helina Selemon talked to Diane Harper, MD, the doctor behind the clinical trials of to learn more about HPV and about Cervarix®, the vaccine that women, especially Black women, need to know about.
