Every year, HPV causes about 36,000 cancers in the United States. More than 90 percent of them, close to 33,700 cases, could be stopped by a vaccine that has protected children since 2006. The distance between what the vaccine prevents and what still happens is widest in the Southeast. Georgia sits inside that distance, and a 14-member regional effort is working to close it.
HPV, the human papillomavirus, is common. The CDC estimates that about 85 percent of people will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. Most infections clear on their own. Some do not, and those can turn into cancer years or even decades later. The vaccine works against six of them: cervical, oropharyngeal (the back of the throat), anal, vaginal, vulvar, and penile cancer.
A regional problem with a Georgia address
The southeastern United States has carried the country's lowest HPV vaccination rates and its highest rates of HPV cancers for years, with cervical and throat cancers leading the count. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which convenes the regional effort, points to that pattern as the reason the work exists. Georgia's numbers track it closely. The state's all-HPV cancer rate runs at 13.2 cases per 100,000 people, above the national 12.2. Cervical cancer runs 7.7 against the national 7.0. Oropharyngeal cancer runs 5.9 against 5.3. Georgia ranks among the 15 states with the highest cervical cancer incidence, according to the 2025 Georgia HPV data profile.
What the gap means for Latino families
For Latino families, the stakes run higher. Latinas have the highest rate of cervical cancer of any group in the United States, roughly 44 percent above non-Hispanic white women, according to the American Cancer Society. Hispanic adults between 19 and 26 are the least likely of any group to have had even one dose of the vaccine. Cost, language, worries tied to immigration, and time away from work all sit between a family and the shot. The cancer on the other side is preventable. The problem is reach, not the science.
How protection starts
The CDC recommends the HPV vaccine as a routine shot at age 11 or 12, and it can start as early as age 9. A child who starts before the 15th birthday needs two doses, six to twelve months apart. Someone who starts at 15 or older needs three. Starting at 9 spreads the doses across visits a family is already making and finishes the series well before any exposure. That timing is the reasoning behind one of the region's three goals.
Georgia is closing the distance
The trend in Georgia points the right way. Since 2016, the share of Georgia teens who have started the HPV series has risen 7 percent, and the share who are up to date has risen 20 percent, per the 2025 state profile. Georgia's up-to-date rate now sits a little above the national average. It still falls short of the Healthy People 2030 target of 80 percent.
One comparison shows where the work is. Among Georgia teens 13 to 17 in 2024, meningococcal vaccination reached 98 percent and Tdap reached 97 percent. HPV trailed both. It is the only one of the three that prevents cancer. Most of those teens were in the room when the other shots were given.
Three goals, one regional effort
Georgia is one of 14 members of the HPV Vaccination Roundtable of the Southeast, 12 states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, convened by St. Jude. The group organizes its work around three goals. The first is clearer communication, carried by the regional campaign It's Our Way Down South. The second is the elimination of HPV cancers, starting with cervical cancer. The third is starting HPV vaccination at age 9.
The Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia works with St. Jude on HPV prevention, and Bella Borghi has taken part in the Roundtable's rural HPV work. What matters for a Georgia family is the substance behind those goals: a clear schedule, trusted information in Spanish and English, and a way to reach the vaccine that does not depend on income or ZIP code.
What this series will cover
The months ahead break the three goals into plain answers. Why age 9 is the right time to start, and how the two-dose schedule works. How a brief, direct recommendation from a clinician changes whether a child gets protected at all. What cervical cancer elimination means in practice, and why November 17 now marks it on the world calendar. Where a young adult who missed the vaccine can still catch up through age 26, and where a rural or uninsured family in Georgia can get it at no cost.
The vaccine has been preventing cancer for almost 20 years. The next step is making sure every family in Georgia can reach it.
FAQs
How many cancers does HPV cause, and can the vaccine prevent them?
HPV causes about 36,000 cancers a year in the United States. The CDC reports that vaccination could prevent more than 90 percent of them, close to 33,700 cases, across six cancer types.
Why does the Southeast have higher HPV cancer rates?
The region has carried the lowest HPV vaccination coverage and the highest HPV cancer rates in the country for years, led by cervical and throat cancers. That pattern is why St. Jude convenes a 14-member regional effort.
At what age should HPV vaccination start?
The CDC recommends it routinely at 11 or 12, and it can start as early as 9. Children who start before age 15 need two doses. People who start at 15 through 26 need three.
Partner list
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; HPV Vaccination Roundtable of the Southeast; Hispanic Health Coalition of Georgia.
Sources
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