January 16, 2007
Contact: Bev Pfeifer-Harms
Director of Communications
314.345.5500 office

$11 Million Grant Provides HPV Vaccine for Missouri Girls & Women

Missouri Foundation for Health's Largest Award Ensures 30,000 In Need Receive Vaccine To Prevent Cervical Cancer

St. Louis - The Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) announces its largest single grant - $11 million to provide the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for 30,000 girls and women this year in Missouri. The grant represents the largest non-governmental funding of the vaccine's distribution in the United States, and the most comprehensive effort in any state to ensure all who can benefit from the vaccine receive it. The vaccine, Gardasil®, prevents cervical cancer in females caused by certain types of HPV.

The grant enables Missouri health care providers to provide the vaccine free of charge to girls and women ages 9-26 not covered by adequate insurance or who do not qualify for Missouri's free Vaccines For Children (VFC) program. Distribution of the vaccine is planned at 92 locations throughout the MFH service region, which includes 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis. MFH does not serve the northwest portion of Missouri, including the Kansas City area.

The grant to purchase the vaccine is being given to Missouri Family Health Council (MFHC) and Missouri Primary Care Association (MPCA), which will be responsible for distributing Gardasil to the 92 health centers.

MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in Missouri and is dedicated to serving the uninsured, the underinsured and the underserved in its service region. Created in 2000 from the conversion of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH is in its sixth year of grantmaking.

"MFH is very pleased to use its funding resources to help ensure Missouri's uninsured and underinsured girls and women reduce their risk of cervical cancer," says Dr. James R. Kimmey, MFH's president and CEO. "By eliminating the cost barrier on the vaccine, MFH is helping Missouri lead the nation in preventing this type of cancer among its residents.

"Funding the vaccine purchase also supports MFH's strong belief that preventative health care programs and treatment play a significant role in improving the health of Missouri residents and in reducing the future costs of treating diseases once they have occurred," adds Kimmey.

Gardasil, which was developed by Merck & Co., Inc., has been available in the U.S. since mid-2006 following approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. At the same time, the national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended it be given to females ages 9-26. However, the commercial cost of the vaccine - about $360 for the three-dose regimen - has severely limited its availability to low-income and uninsured girls and women.

Recently, the federal VFC program approved adding Gardasil to its free vaccine program for eligible girls and women ages 9-18. Most vaccines provided through VFC cover ages 0-18. Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services plans to have Gardasil available through its VFC program by late January. Under general VFC guidelines, only Medicaid-eligible girls and women who have no insurance or are Native American or Alaskan Native, qualify to receive the HPV vaccine through that program.

MFH's funding enables Missouri health care providers to meet the national recommendation that all females ages 9-26 be vaccinated. MFH's funding broadens Missouri's vaccination efforts by covering those females not included in the VFC program - women ages 19-26, and girls and women ages 9-18 who lack sufficient health insurance benefits to pay for the vaccine.

The MFH grant announcement also comes during National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed in January. Cervical cancer is one of the leading cancers among women. In Missouri, the incidence rate is 7.9 per 100,000 women.

An estimated 20 million men and women in the United States are infected with HPV. In most people, HPV goes away on its own. However, the virus is known to be transmitted through sexual activity. According to Merck, Gardasil is most effective when given to females before they become sexually active and are much less likely to have been exposed to HPV.

HPV has been identified as the cause of cervical cancers, pre-cancers, benign cervical lesions and genital warts. Although Gardasil does not prevent all types of HPV, it targets those strains that account for 70 percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of genital warts.

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