The Arkansas Department of Health and the Arkansas Immunization Action Coalition (ImmunizeAR) congratulate Floyd Gonzalez, MD, a private practicing pediatrician in De Queen, Ark., for receiving the HPV Vaccine Is Cancer Prevention Champion Award for outstanding efforts to protect adolescents from cancers caused by HPV in Arkansas. Gonzalez is recognized for his efforts to achieve high HPV vaccination rates in his practice.
Led in partnership by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Association of American Cancer Institutes, and the American Cancer Society the HPV Vaccine Is Cancer Prevention Champion Award Program recognizes clinicians, clinics, practices, groups, and health systems that are going above and beyond to foster HPV vaccination in their community. This year, the award program is honoring champions from 32 states.
Gonzalez has been a practicing pediatrician for more than 20 years and is well respected in his community. He has achieved high HPV vaccination rates through effectively communicating the benefits of HPV vaccination and answering parents’ questions in both English and Spanish to ensure that all of the parents in his practice have the information they need to feel comfortable in their decision to vaccinate their child.
HPV vaccine is important because it protects against cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. HPV is a very common virus; nearly 80 million people are currently infected with it in the United States. Every year in the United States, 33,700 women and men are diagnosed with a cancer caused by HPV infection. HPV vaccination could prevent more than 90% of these cancers—about 31,000—from occurring. Both boys and girls should start the HPV vaccine series when they are 11 or 12 years old and finish all recommended doses before they turn age 13. The HPV vaccine series can be started as early as age nine.
Every year, the award honors one champion from all 50 states in America, eight U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States, and the District of Columbia. Immunization programs submit nominations for the HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention Champion in their state or territory. Nominees must be a clinician, clinic, practice, group, or health system that treats adolescents as part of their overall patient population and must have an HPV vaccine series completion rate at 60% or higher for their adolescent patient population.