HPV Vaccine Linked to Fewer Head and Neck Cancers in Men

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, a preventative cancer treatment first aimed at women, now appears highly likely to be protecting men who are at risk of head and neck cancer as well.

It is the world’s first medicine designed specifically to prevent cancer by targeting a virus.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in 2006, although it was initially offered only to girls and women. Scientists then hoped the experimental vaccine would stop several harmful HPV strains from causing cervical cancer - and that is exactly what happened.

Twenty years after the first injections, deaths from cervical cancer in younger women have fallen dramatically. In some countries with high vaccine uptake, case numbers have declined by almost 90 percent.

HPV vaccine and head and neck cancer in men

New research now offers some of the strongest evidence so far that vaccinated men are also developing fewer cancers.

A US observational study has linked the HPV vaccine with an almost 70 percent reduction in head and neck cancers, which are among the most rapidly increasing cancers in American men.

HPV causes around 11,100 cervical cancers each year. However, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus is also responsible for 16,000 oropharyngeal cancers, with males accounting for about 85 percent of these cases.

"HPV vaccination is associated with a substantially lower risk of head and neck cancers – most pronounced for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and among younger recipients," conclude the study authors.

"These findings suggest that broad HPV immunization coverage may provide potential public health benefits by reducing the risk of head and neck cancers."

No direct evidence has yet proved that the HPV vaccine prevents head and neck cancers. Nevertheless, the virus has a central role in certain oropharyngeal cancers, while the vaccine has already had remarkable effects on cervical cancer rates.

On the strength of this rationale, the US Food and Drug Administration accelerated its official approval in 2020 to extend the HPV vaccine’s use to preventing head-and-neck cancers in people of both sexes. Emerging findings now support that decision.

US study finds fewer cancers after HPV vaccination

For the latest population analysis, Chinese researchers examined US health information from 1.4 million people aged between 9 and 45.

They found 40 head and neck cancer cases among more than 700,000 people vaccinated against HPV. By comparison, an age-matched group that had not received HPV vaccination recorded 130 cancer cases.

That represents a difference of almost 70 percent.

Further, larger observational studies with longer follow-up periods will be required to establish whether these links persist. However, for at least a decade following vaccination, the HPV vaccine appears to help prevent cancer.

HPV is extremely infectious. Nearly everyone encounters it at some stage, usually without serious effects, but certain strains pose greater risks than others.

The high-risk strains can spread through sexual contact and infect the cervix, vagina, vulva and penis. They may also infect the throat and tonsils, most clearly through oral sex and potentially through kissing.

For a small proportion of people, the virus remains dormant within cells for years and slowly interferes with their growth. Some infected cells can turn cancerous decades later.

Why wider HPV immunisation coverage matters

Unlike cervical cancer linked to HPV, head and neck cancers do not have a screening test comparable to a smear test for identifying precancerous changes. This makes vaccine coverage even more significant.

In the US, HPV vaccination is now advised for all young people up to the age of 26 to help prevent deadly cancers. In 2024, 77 percent of adolescent males and 79 percent of adolescent females had received at least one injection.

Even so, many people remain unaware of what the HPV vaccine could mean for their cancer risk. A 2025 survey found that more than one-third of US adults did not know about HPV, while over 70 percent did not realise it could cause oral cancers.

"Something I'd never heard of almost killed me," a male patient who survived HPV-related throat cancer recently told CIDRAP, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

"I made damn sure that all of my nieces and nephews know about the vaccine," he added.

"Who in the world wouldn't want to do everything they possibly can not to get cancer? There are certain things you have no control over. This one you do."

Although countries including the US, the UK and Australia have widened coverage to males and females, many countries have not done so.

Globally, HPV vaccination programmes still focus largely on one sex. The World Health Organization currently aims for 90 percent of girls worldwide to be fully vaccinated against HPV by the age of 15.

The organisation has no comparable target covering both sexes. Instead, it describes boys as "secondary targets", "where feasible and affordable".

Advocacy groups leading a worldwide campaign are calling on the WHO to adopt a gender-neutral policy.

"From an epidemiological perspective, when both males and females are at risk of HPV, it is illogical to immunize girls alone," reads the site for End HPV Global.

"We have the means to protect everyone – whatever their sex or gender – from high-risk HPV infections and the cancers they cause."

HPV has become closely associated with cervical cancer, yet that reflects only a small part of the harm this virus can cause.

The study was published in The International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

This article was fact-checked and edited by Clare Watson. Although we take pride in our process, we are only human. If you notice an error, please let us know.