Numerous women refusing to be vaccinated for HPV

The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been characterized as a significantly dangerous sexually transmitted disease (STD), capable of doing serious damage to the female reproductive system. However, date from the National Survey of Family Growth found that over half of the women who had not been vaccinated for HPV did not have any plans to receive that immunization, according to Internal Medicine News.

The news source reports that the survey, which focused entirely on women aged 15 to 24 years old, found that 58 percent of 15 to 19 year old women and 62 percent of those between 20 and 24 said that did not plan to receive the vaccine within the next year.

Among these 955 unvaccinated women, a total of 546 of them either said that they did not think they needed it, or that a healthcare provider had told them to avoid it for various reasons.

The survey also stated that those positing themselves as likely to be vaccinated were fairly likely to have already had sex.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 100 types of HPV in the world, and that many of them are entirely asymptomatic. High-risk HPV strains often cause cervical cancer.