SACRAMENTO — Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) announced Wednesday that her Cancer Prevention Act, Assembly Bill 659, passed the Assembly with a vote of 60 to 13 and will now head to the governor.

AB 659 will ensure that more young Californians receive this cancer-preventing vaccine through an advisory that 8th-grade students and students entering higher education institutions should be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Schools will notify students and parents of the ideal age range for the vaccine to be effective to be included in the school’s existing orientations and updates.

The bill also guarantees that all health plans cover the vaccine.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that teen girls are the most likely to contract the infection and show symptoms.

Seventy-five to 89% of all people in the United States contract one or more types of HPV throughout the course of their lives.

Each year, over 37,000 Americans find new cases of cancer attributable to HPV. These cancer cases affect both male and female patients, with women most often developing HPV-related cervical cancer and male patients more often diagnosed with HPV-related cancers, the most prevalent being HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer.

The vaccine will prevent thousands of these cancers and deaths.

“I appreciate the many stakeholders and the Newsom Administration for helping to get to this point. We actually have a vaccine that can prevent cancer. AB 659 will alert parents and young people that they can save their lives and those of others. This bill creates more awareness and access and will prevent more cancers and deaths from HPV,” said Aguiar-Curry.

“By closing gaps in health care, we can make this life-saving vaccine more available to everyone. We’re going to have this conversation with California families and do everything we can to help them choose to protect their kids. This vaccine will result in fewer people contracting or spreading this cancer-causing virus,” Aguiar-Curry said.

While HPV vaccination has been available for over 20 years, vaccine uptake continues to lag
far behind other vaccines.

The CDC recommends HPV vaccination for girls and boys ages 11 to 12, and it is widely available through pediatricians and family doctors.

However, the CDC reports that over 60% of eligible adolescents have not received the HPV vaccine.

Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake, Colusa, Napa and Yolo counties, and parts of Sonoma County.