Super Health Pharmacy is a community pharmacy with employees who truly care about community health. The pharmacy co-founder, Mayank Parikh, has become a community champion for HPV vaccination with CPiA. Our Staten Island CPiA partnered with Super Health Pharmacy to educate them about the HPV vaccination, which they have never stocked at their pharmacy. We first educated Mr. Parikh and his team in September 2023 about the vaccine’s ability to prevent cancer, and the ideal ages to give the vaccine.

In December 2023, Super Health Pharmacy offered to let us use their event space to invite local pediatricians, healthcare providers, pharmacists, and health advocates for dinner to have a discussion on the HPV vaccine, barriers to giving the vaccine, and possible solutions. In January 2023, we held this event and had about 25 community healthcare professionals in attendance. Super Health Pharmacy invited their pharmacist and nurse contacts. Our key partners – Dr. Ginny Mantello at the Staten Island Borough President’s Office and Dr. Ana Mendez at Richmond University Medical Center – invited their physician and health care professional contacts. Dr. Ashley Stephens – a Columbia pediatrician who works with CPiA – and Dr. Ana Mendez presented information on the HPV vaccine, vaccine hesitancy, start at 9, and how to work with insurance coverage. Then, Dr. Ginny Mantello led the group in a discussion about barriers to doctors recommending the HPV vaccine and barriers of patients to get the vaccine. After this presentation, many attendees agreed that starting HPV vaccination recommendation at age 9 would be an effective way to reduce cancer risk.