ROCKPORT — Pen Bay Medical Center is hoping that a few key strokes will protect more children against cancer.

The PBMC technology team – along with a regulatory change in the early days of COVID – have made it possible for the hospital’s pediatricians to connect with its pharmacy’s scheduling system to make it easier for parents to vaccinate their children against human papillomavirus (HPV) and the cancers it causes.

“It’s important for young people to get the HPV vaccination because it prevents infections that can cause a variety of cancers later in life,” said William Stephenson, MD, a pediatrician at Pen Bay Medical Center, in a PBMC news release. “We think offering a more convenient schedule will make it easier and more likely that parents will get their children vaccinated.

“For children at least 10 years old and less than 15 years old, the vaccine requires two doses given six months apart,” Dr. Stephenson said. “In an effort to be more patient centered we sought another option for patients to get the second HPV vaccine outside our regular office hours.”

Thanks to the collaboration between the pharmacy and providers at PBMC, patients can be scheduled for the second dose of the vaccine at the Pharmacy at Pen Bay, which allows for children to get their shots on Saturdays and weekday evenings. The hope is that this expanded access will increase immunization rates and decrease HPV related cancers.

The HPV vaccination provides much more protection when administered to those between the ages of 10 and 15 years old. The vaccine is less effective when given to those age 15 years and older and requires a three dose regimen, according to PBMC.

“Cancers caused by HPV are preventable,” said Chandler Blodgett, PharmD, who oversees the retail pharmacy at PBMC. “HPV is estimated to cause nearly 36,500 cases of cancer in men and women every year in the United States. HPV vaccination prevents infections that cause these cancers.”

Blodgett noted that the opportunity to have PBMC pediatricians set up patients with pharmacy appointments was created by a public health emergency declaration in 2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among its provisions, the emergency declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Readiness Act (PREP Act) allowed pharmacists to vaccinate patients 3 years of age and older as part of an effort to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine quickly to as many people as possible.

“Previously, pharmacists were restricted to immunizating those 18 years of age and older,” said the release. “Fortunately, the declaration did not limit this change to the COVID vaccine but applied it to all prescribed vaccines – including the HPV vaccine.”

“This is a common sense approach to vaccination that is in the best interest of patients,” Blodgett said.

The emergency declaration under the PREP Act is set to expire in 2024. However, the Maine legislature is currently considering a bill that among other things would preserve the ability of pharmacists to immunize children as young as 3 years old.

“It’s early in the legislative process but I am hopeful that the legislators have seen the benefits of allowing pharmacists to immunize young children and will preserve our ability to continue doing so,” Blodgett said.

For more information about HPV and the HPV vaccine, visit the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov/hpv or go to the MaineHealth HPV page at www.mainehealth.org/Services/Infectious-Disease/HPV.

Pen Bay Medical Center

Pen Bay Medical Center is part of MaineHealth, a not-for-profit integrated health system consisting of nine local hospital systems, a comprehensive behavioral healthcare network, diagnostic services, home health agencies, and more than 1,600 employed and independent physicians working together through an Accountable Care Organization. With more than 19,000 employees, MaineHealth is the largest health system in northern New England and provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. For more information, please visit pbmc.org.