A new study shows that the HPV vaccine is linked to a lower cancer risk in men. We have substantial data that the vaccine reduces the risk of several cancers in women, so it’s good to have new data that shows it’s an important vaccine for men.

However, many people think that the vaccine is only important for women, so there is a lag in HPV vaccination rates in boys and young men. HPV-related cancers are also prevalent in men, so the HPV vaccine is just as crucial for men as it is for women.

This article will review the new paper that provides evidence that the HPV vaccine reduces the risk of cancer in men.

All about HPV and the HPV vaccine

I know I cut and paste this section into every article I write about HPV vaccines, but it’s the first step to HPV vaccine myth debunking. Some readers may be researching the vaccine for the first time, and this provides the basics about the disease and vaccine.

However, I try to update this section when necessary with new information about either the disease or the vaccine. If you’ve read this section 47 times, skip to the next section where I discuss the key points of this article.

Genital and oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the USA. HPV is generally transmitted from personal contact during vaginal, anal, or oral sex.

It is critical to note that there are more than 150 strains or subtypes of HPV that can infect humans; however, only 40 of these strains are linked to one or more different cancers. Moreover, of those 40 strains, most are fairly rare.

Although the early symptoms of HPV infections aren’t serious and many HPV infections resolve themselves without long-term harm, HPV infections are causally linked to many types of cancers in men and women. According to current medical research, here are some of the cancers that are linked to HPV:

• Cervical cancer
• Vulvar cancer
• Vaginal cancer
• Anal cancer
• Oropharyngeal cancer (throat cancer)
• Penile cancer

In addition, there is some evidence that HPV infections are causally linked to skin and prostate cancers. The link to skin cancer is still preliminary, but there is much stronger evidence that HPV is linked to many prostate cancers.

HPV is believed to cause nearly 5% of all new cancers across the world, making it almost as dangerous as tobacco in that respect. According to published research, roughly 42 million persons in the USA are infected with disease-associated HPV, and 13 million persons acquire a new infection each year.

Each year in the United States, about 47,984 new cases of cancer are found in parts of the body where human papillomavirus (HPV) is often found — 26,280 among females, and 21,704 among males. 

Most individuals don’t even know they have the infection until the onset of cancer. The CDC states that over 37,800 HPV-related cancers are diagnosed in the USA every year. In 2022, there were approximately 1,505,394 HPV-related cancer cases and 755,303 deaths worldwide, with cervical cancer being the primary cause, accounting for 14.1 per 100,000 people.

There were two HPV vaccines on the world market before 2014. GSK, also known as GlaxoSmithKline, produced Cervarix, a bivalent vaccine that protects only against two HPV strains. Cervarix has been withdrawn from the US market (although available in many other markets) because of competition from the quadrivalent, which immunizes against four different HPV strains, and the 9-valent, which protects against nine HPV strains, Gardasil.

Merck manufactures Gardasil, the most common HPV vaccine. The first version of the vaccine, quadrivalent Gardasil, targeted the two HPV genotypes known to cause about 70% of cervical cancer and two other HPV genotypes that cause genital warts. In Europe and other markets, Gardasil is known as Silgard.

The newer Gardasil 9, approved by the FDA in 2014, is a 9-valent vaccine that protects against HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58. It targets the four HPV strains found in the quadrivalent version, along with five additional ones that are linked to cervical and other HPV-related cancers. Both versions of Gardasil are prophylactic, meant to be given to females or males before they become exposed to possible HPV infection through intimate contact.

Gardasil is one of the easiest and best ways to prevent a few dangerous and, to abuse the definition slightly, common cancers that afflict men and women. Without a doubt, the HPV vaccine prevents cancer.

In the United States, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) currently recommends that preteen girls and boys aged 11 or 12 receive the HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccine is also recommended for teenage girls and young women up to the age of 26 who did not receive it when they were younger, and boys and young men up to the age of 21.

HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. HPV causes 37,800 cancers a year in the USA and over 1.5 million worldwide. The HPV vaccine prevents one from becoming infected by HPV, which means you are protected from these cancers.

HPV vaccine and cancer risk in men paper

In a paper published on 9 April 2026 in JAMA Oncology, Taito Kitano, DrPH, and Sayaka Yoshida, PhD, both of the Nara Prefecture General Medical Center, Japan, assessed the links between 9-valent HPV vaccination and HPV-related cancers among males ages 9 to 26 years.

Kitano and Yoshida used records from the global TriNetX database that included 615,155 vaccinated males and 2,290,623 unvaccinated males. The study’s vaccinated cohort included those who had a health exam and received at least one 9-valent HPV vaccine between January 2016 and December 2024. The unvaccinated cohort underwent a health exam during that period but didn’t receive HPV vaccination. Follow-up began 180 days after a health exam.

All cancers identified in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups were head and neck, preventing secondary analysis of esophageal, anal, and penile cancer risks.

Here are the key results:

• Among males ages 9 to 26 years, those who received the 9-valent HPV vaccine had a 46% lower risk of a composite of HPV-related cancer compared with those who were unvaccinated.
• In the age group 9 to 14 years, the vaccinated group had a 42% lower risk of HPV-related cancer. In the 15 to 26-year age group, a 50% lower risk was observed.
• Extending the follow-up period to two years, the vaccinated group still had a 44% lower risk of HPV-related cancer.

Yoshida and Kitano concluded:

This study found a significant negative association of the 9-valent HPV vaccine with HPV-related cancers in adolescents and young adult males and contributes to the development of sex-neutral HPV vaccination.

Summary

Study limitations included a reliance on ICD-10 coding alone for cancer diagnoses, which may have led to missed diagnoses. The study cohort included only adolescents who’d undergone a well-child health check, which could introduce selection bias. The database also didn’t include information on HPV infection status — all cancers in the study may not have been caused by HPV.

This study focused only on males shortly after HPV vaccination. Follow-up after a decade or more may exhibit a larger risk reduction after receiving the HPV vaccine.

However, this study provides preliminary evidence that the HPV vaccine greatly reduces the risk of HPV-related cancer in men. This is a true cancer-preventing vaccine.

Citations

• Kitano T, Yoshida S. Nine-Valent Human Papillomavirus Vaccination and Related Cancers in Males. JAMA Oncol. 2026 Apr 9:e260496. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2026.0496. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41954909; PMCID: PMC13067135.

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