Face2Face Healing joins UPMC, Eye and Ear Foundation and Jewish Healthcare Foundation in advocating for HPV vaccine mandate
July 20, 2025

“If I had the opportunity to have a vaccine to prevent me from going through the grueling surgeries, the chemo, the radiation and all the after effects, I would have gladly done that.”

That’s what Face2Face Healing Executive Director Karen Scuilli said as she joined a panel of UPMC cancer specialists speaking out in favor of a mandated HPV vaccination for students in Allegheny County.

HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that affects both men and women. Certain types of the virus can lead to cervical or throat cancer, but the HPV vaccine, which became available in 2006, can prevent that from happening.

This means the HPV vaccine is the first vaccine ever that can directly prevent cancer.

The Allegheny County Board of Health held a vote on whether to mandate the vaccine for children between ages 11 and 12. The vote failed, but that doesn’t mean that parents should ignore the vaccine. “This cancer takes about 30 years to form. By vaccinating kids today, we will see the difference by 2040. I’ll be gone, but our children will be here,” said Dr. Jonas Johnson, Chairman of UPMC’s Department of Oncology.

When a parent chooses not to give their child this vaccine, they may be leading them towards years of suffering down the road. Pat Maloney, 68, was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils last March and had to go through both radiation and chemotherapy. “I still suffer from dry mouth. Water is a constant companion,” he says. “Loss of taste is there.”

One reporter asked him what he thought of the vaccine. His response: “Absolutely necessary.”

Face2Face Healing and UPMC agree. Dr. Robert Edwards, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UPMC, said it best: “Parents are going to be put in this situation, explain to their kids why they didn’t get the vaccine when it was first available.”

You can learn more about the HPV vaccine on the UPMC website, and read more about the press conference from KDKA, WPXI, and TribLIVE.