Discussions on extending catch-up vaccination efforts and including males in vaccination programs have intensified as vaccine programs targeting females have taken hold and evidence has mounted regarding herd protection effects and HPV-associated disease in men. As vaccination strategies further developed, issues related to overall, in-population effectiveness and resilience of the program need to be explored.
Comparing alternative vaccination strategies using models based on real-life program data can provide strong predictions for anticipated effectiveness. Two main questions are the impact of extending catch-up vaccination to older females and including males in routine and possibly catch-up vaccination efforts.
Evidence from a validated model calibrated to Swedish data suggests that with extended catch-up of females, decreases in the burden of vaccination-preventable HPV infections can be accelerated as compared to routine school-based vaccination of young girls. Including males in routine vaccination increases the resilience of vaccination programs, minimizing the potential loss of effectiveness due to unexpected drops in vaccine coverage.