In addition, because of the different Androgen Receptor Antagonist burdens of disease vaccination may
be more cost effective in a single sex [51]. Heterosexual transmission of infection will be stopped if one sex is fully protected. This is illustrated in Fig. 3b for gonorrhea where vaccination of women alone is less effective than vaccinating both sexes but effective nonetheless. The situation of cost effectiveness of vaccinating men is further complicated by men who have sex with men, where HPV vaccination is likely to be cost effective [52]. This raises the question of how to identify such men early on so they will benefit from vaccination. The age at which one would vaccinate individuals against STIs is also open to debate [53] and [54]. The incidence of STIs is restricted to those who are sexually active, thus vaccination is unnecessary for infants and children and may be most impactful just prior to commencing sexual activity. In their review of access to medical technologies Frost and Reich [1] describe a framework involving a global architecture, availability,
affordability and adoption. As new vaccines become available many developed countries have specific advisory committees that recommend the selleck products purchasing and distribution of vaccines. More generally WHO, UNICEF and GAVI provide the architecture to promote vaccine uptake and help negotiate prices and fund vaccine programs. There is then a need to supply the vaccines to the providers with forecasting, procurement and distribution. STI vaccines, if used in adolescents others require different access channels from childhood immunization. It is notable that HPV uptake in school programs has been much greater than where individuals seek vaccine from their own providers [38]. Price is
part of affordability and needs to balance incentives to produce vaccines with ability to pay. Both providers and recipients need to adopt vaccination. This is where a good understanding of the risks and severity of disease will be most important in persuading communities of the need for vaccination. STI vaccines would provide an additional preventive intervention in a situation where interventions are already available. The more successful those other interventions are the less cost effective a new STI vaccine would be. For example, HPV vaccines will prevent more cervical cancer cases in places where screening for pre-cancerous lesions is not well organized. If control through current interventions is partial then a vaccine could combine synergistically with other interventions and may allow elimination. For gonorrhea, chlamydia and HSV-2 where asymptomatic infection drives the incidence of new infections and screening and treatment would need to be too frequent to fully interrupt transmission vaccination could play an important role.