Why this belongs in a wellness budget
Most corporate wellness spending buys something useful but soft — a gym subsidy, a talk, an annual physical that finds nothing. HPV vaccination is different in one specific way: it prevents a cancer, and the evidence that it does is about as strong as preventive medicine gets.
Here is the Philippine picture an HR or benefits lead is actually deciding against.
| The number | What it means for an employer |
|---|---|
| 2nd most common cancer in Filipino women | And the second most frequent in women aged 15–44 — which is most of your female workforce |
| 7,897 new cases · 4,052 deaths a year | About twelve Filipinas a day. Nearly all of it caused by a virus there is a vaccine against |
| 44% five-year survival | Low, and it is low because of late diagnosis rather than bad treatment |
| ~1% of Filipino women screened | Among the lowest screening rates in the world. Prevention is doing work screening is not |
| ₱181,789 mean out-of-pocket at 12 months | The PESO study figure for a Filipino cancer patient. Treatment overall runs ₱120,000 to over ₱1 million |
| 40.6% hit financial catastrophe | Of patients still alive at one year. And the study found insurance did not significantly change that risk |
The last two rows are the ones worth sitting with. A cancer diagnosis in your workforce is not only a human loss and a gap in the team — it is, for four in ten Filipino families who face it, a financial catastrophe that private insurance did not prevent. That is the PESO study's finding, not ours.
Around 1% of Filipino women are screened for cervical cancer — among the lowest rates in the world. In countries with functioning screening programmes, cervical cancer is often caught early and survival is high. Here, five-year survival is 44%, and the reason is late diagnosis.
A vaccine does not depend on anyone remembering to book a smear. For a workforce that mostly is not screened, that difference is the entire argument.
For your women employees: the cancer this actually prevents
Cervical cancer is caused, in almost every case, by persistent infection with high-risk HPV. Gardasil 9 covers nine types — 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58 — including the two that cause around 70% of cervical cancers worldwide.
One detail specific to this country: HPV type 52 is comparatively common in the Philippines, and it is covered by Gardasil 9 but not by the older two-valent vaccine. If a company is comparing quotes and one is markedly cheaper, that is a question worth asking.
The free national programme reaches Grade 4 girls in public elementary schools. Every adult woman in your workforce is outside it — which is exactly why an employer-sponsored programme reaches people no public programme will.
It does not replace screening. The vaccine prevents infection with types someone has not met; a Pap smear or HPV DNA test finds changes already present. We provide vaccination, not cervical screening — that stays with each employee's OB-GYN, and we say so rather than letting a wellness programme create the impression it is covered.
For your men employees: two reasons, and the first is their own
HPV programmes are often pitched to men as protecting their partners. That is true, and it is not the whole truth — and men consistently respond better to the part they are usually not told.
1. Their own risk, which is rising
HPV causes oropharyngeal, anal and penile cancers in men, as well as genital warts. Oropharyngeal cancer — throat, tonsil, base of tongue — has been rising for three decades and has now overtaken cervical cancer as the most common HPV-related cancer in the United States, with roughly 21,000 cases a year against about 12,000 cervical, per CDC figures. The rise is concentrated in men.
The asymmetry that matters: there is no HPV screening test for men. No smear, no recall letter, no equivalent of the pathway that catches cervical changes early. A woman who skips vaccination still gets screened. A man who skips it gets nothing. For men, prevention is not the better option — it is the only one.
2. What they carry home
HPV is transmitted skin to skin, and most sexually active adults encounter it at some point. A vaccinated man is less likely to acquire and pass on the types that cause cervical cancer in a partner.
We put this second deliberately, and we put it carefully. It is a real reason. It is not an accusation, it does not imply anything about anyone's relationship, and it should not be delivered to a workforce as though it were. Framed as blame it reduces uptake; framed as one of two good reasons it adds to it.
What it costs
₱20,000 per employee for the full three-dose course. All-in — vaccine, administration, the 15-minute observation and documentation. No separate consultation fee, no administration fee added afterwards, no minimum spend beyond the ten-employee threshold.
For context, our published individual rate is ₱7,200 a dose or ₱21,000 for the full course, and a full Gardasil 9 course across Metro Manila private clinics and hospitals generally runs ₱18,000 to ₱24,000. Ask any provider whether their figure includes administration: many quote the vial and add ₱500–₱1,500 per visit, which is ₱1,500–₱4,500 across three visits that nobody mentioned at the start.
Three ways companies structure it
| Model | Who pays | Why a company picks it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Employer-funded | The company pays ₱20,000 per employee | A straightforward wellness benefit. Highest uptake, cleanest to communicate, invoiced against a PO |
| 2 · Employer-subsidised | The company sets a fixed contribution; the employee settles the balance | Predictable budget, and shared cost still signals the company backs it. Uptake usually stays strong |
| 3 · Employee-funded access | The employee pays ₱20,000 in full; the company pays nothing | Costs the employer nothing. You are giving staff access to a corporate rate and an organised schedule they could not get alone |
The clinical delivery is identical in all three. Same vaccine, same clinician, same schedule, same privacy handling — only the invoice differs.
Model 3 is worth a second look if there is no wellness budget this year. It costs the company nothing at all, and it still does the two things an employee cannot do alone: it gets them the corporate rate, and it puts the second and third doses in a schedule somebody else is tracking.
Dependents — spouses, partners and children
HPV does not stop at the employee, and neither should the programme. Dependents can be enrolled at the same corporate rate — spouses and partners, and children from age nine.
For a lot of companies this is the part that makes the benefit land. An employee who is already vaccinated has nothing to gain personally, but bringing a partner or a teenage child into the programme is a real benefit with a real cost attached, and it is the age group where the vaccine does the most good.
Dependents attend either at the clinic, on any day that suits them, or at your office on a scheduled vaccination day alongside staff. Those are the two options. We do not run separate home visits or additional site days for dependents — that is what keeps the rate the same as the employee rate rather than higher.
In practice most families use the clinic, because the timing is theirs and a teenager does not have to be brought into a parent's workplace.
We are an adult clinic. We do not assess children ourselves, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Any dependent under 15 needs written clearance from their own paediatrician before the first dose, confirming the vaccine is appropriate for that child. We ask for it at enrolment, and we will not give a first dose without it.
Separately, anyone under 18 needs written consent from a parent or guardian, and that parent or guardian must attend every appointment. This adds a step to enrolment, and we would rather add it than skip it.
One thing that changes the price, in your favour
Children aged 9 to 14 need only two doses, not three — the immune response at that age is strong enough that the schedule is shorter. A dependent in that band is therefore ₱13,400 rather than ₱20,000, at the same per-dose rate.
Everyone aged 15 and over — employees, spouses, older teenagers — is the full three-dose course at ₱20,000.
This is also the strongest single argument for including dependents at all. Nine to fourteen is the age at which HPV vaccination does the most good, because it is almost always before any exposure. It is the one place in this programme where the money buys close to complete prevention rather than partial.
How the programme runs
| On-site at your office | At our Makati clinic | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Larger groups | Smaller groups, and anyone who would rather not be seen queueing |
| What we need | A private room, a table, and a list of enrolled staff | Nothing — employees book their own slots |
| Employee time | About 20 minutes, without leaving the building | A short appointment, one patient at a time |
| Cold chain | Transported and monitored by us | Stored on site |
| Privacy | Managed, but colleagues can see the queue | Complete — nobody at work knows |
Most companies of any size end up using both: an on-site day for the bulk of the group, with clinic slots for anyone who misses it or prefers not to attend.
HPV is a sexually transmitted infection. That is a clinical fact and not a moral one — but it means an open vaccination drive in an open-plan office is not the same proposition as a flu shot. People can see who queues, and some of your staff will quietly opt out rather than be seen doing so.
We handle it two ways. Enrolment is confidential and is not routed through line managers. And anyone can take their doses at the clinic instead, on their own time, with nobody at work any the wiser. It costs the same. In our experience that option is the difference between a programme that reaches the willing and one that reaches the people who most needed a private route.
You will never receive a list of who was vaccinated. You get aggregate numbers — enrolled, first doses given, courses completed — which is what invoicing and reporting need. Individual vaccination status is health information under the Data Privacy Act (RA 10173) and stays between the employee and the clinic.
Why Hummingbirds
We are a single boutique clinic in Makati, not a national vaccination contractor. That is a limitation in some ways and the whole point in others. Here is what it actually buys you.
A price you did not have to ask for
₱20,000 per person, published. You can budget against it before you speak to us, and check anyone else's proposal against it afterwards. Corporate vaccination almost universally runs on quotes; we would rather you started with the number.
Gardasil 9, and nothing narrower
We do not stock a cheaper two-valent option, so there is nothing to be quietly downgraded to. Nine types, including 6 and 11 for genital warts and type 52, which is comparatively common in the Philippines.
A named clinician, not a team
Jas Macusi, RN, PRC no. 0901626, founder and lead clinician — the person who actually gives the dose. Your staff can look her up before the day, and see the same face at dose three.
A private route, at the same price
HPV is an STI-associated vaccine and some staff will not queue for it in front of colleagues. They take their doses at the clinic instead, single-occupancy, on their own time. Nobody at work knows, and it costs the same.
Built to finish, not to launch
All three rounds are dated before dose one, employees are reminded directly rather than through HR, and anyone who misses completes at the clinic. The measure we care about is courses completed, not doses given on day one.
Families included at the same rate
Spouses, partners and children from nine, at the corporate rate — and ₱13,400 for the shorter two-dose course under fifteen, which is the age the vaccine does the most good. Children under 15 need their own paediatrician's written clearance first, and anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian's consent.
You never get a list of names
Aggregate figures only — enrolled, dosed, completed. Individual vaccination status is health information under RA 10173 and stays between the employee and the clinic. Enrolment does not route through line managers either.
We will tell you when it is not worth it
Benefit narrows with prior exposure. At pre-vaccination screening we say so if we do not think the vaccine is worth an individual's money — and we say plainly, on this page, when a larger provider suits you better than we do.
None of that is a claim about being bigger. It is a claim about being small enough that a named person is accountable for every dose, and confident enough to publish the price and the limits.
How to compare us with anyone else
There are established corporate vaccination companies in the Philippines with nationwide teams, decades of operating history and relationships with every major vaccine manufacturer. Several are very good at what they do. If you are running a multi-site national programme across thousands of staff, one of them is the right answer and we will tell you so.
What follows is not an attack on any of them. It is the set of questions we think an HR or benefits lead should put to every provider on their shortlist, including us — because the answers are where corporate vaccination proposals differ, and none of them appear on a proposal cover page.
| Ask any provider | Why it decides the outcome | Our answer |
|---|---|---|
| What is the price, in writing, before we talk? | Corporate vaccination in this market runs on proposals, not price lists. You usually cannot get a number until you have given a headcount and taken a call | ₱20,000 per employee, published on this page. Budget it before you contact us |
| Which HPV vaccine is in the quote — and is it 9-valent? | Bivalent and quadrivalent vaccines are cheaper and still marketed. Bivalent covers two types: it does not cover 6 and 11, which cause genital warts, and does not cover type 52, which is comparatively common in the Philippines | Gardasil 9 only. We do not offer a cheaper, narrower option, so there is nothing to downgrade you to |
| Who physically gives the dose? | Large programmes deploy pooled or contracted vaccinator teams. That is how throughput is achieved, and it is fine — but nobody is named | Jas Macusi, RN, PRC no. 0901626. The founder, by name, on the day |
| What happens to the employee who does not want to be seen queueing? | HPV is a sexually transmitted infection. An open drive in an open-plan office is visible, and a share of your staff will silently opt out rather than be seen joining it | They take their doses at the clinic instead, on their own time, at the same price |
| How do you get doses two and three done? | An HPV course runs over about six months. Dose one is easy; the programme usually dies at dose two. Campaign-shaped providers are optimised for the single-day event | All three rounds are dated before dose one, employees are reminded directly, and anyone who misses completes at the clinic |
| What will you tell us about individual employees? | Reporting is a selling point across the market. Ask specifically what is in the report | Aggregate numbers only. Never a list of who was vaccinated — that is health information under RA 10173 |
The two that matter most
Published price. Almost nobody in this market publishes one. You submit a headcount, take a call, and receive a proposal — which means you cannot put a line in next year's wellness budget without first entering a sales process. Our number is on this page. You can plan against it today, and compare it to anyone else's quote when it arrives.
The employee who quietly opts out. This is the one the industry does not discuss, because the standard corporate model is a high-throughput on-site day and that model is genuinely excellent for flu. HPV is not flu. It is associated with a sexually transmitted infection, and some of your staff — including, in our experience, the ones with the most reason to be vaccinated — will not join a visible queue for it in front of their colleagues. A programme that only exists as an office event silently excludes them. Ours does not, and it costs the same either way.
If you need thousands of employees vaccinated, or simultaneous coverage across provincial sites, or a single supplier bundling ten vaccines into one purchase order, a national corporate vaccination company will serve you better than we can. We are one clinic with one named clinician.
We would rather say that here than discover it three weeks into a procurement process. What we are good at is a Metro Manila workforce, a programme people actually complete, and a price you did not have to ask for.
What we need from you, and what you get back
From you
A headcount, a preferred delivery model, and — for on-site sessions — a private room and a date. Nothing about anyone's medical history.
Before the first dose
A short briefing for staff — what HPV is, who benefits, what the vaccine does and does not do. Written to be forwarded, not to sell.
Clinical delivery
Pre-vaccination screening, administration by Jas Macusi, RN (PRC no. 0901626), cold-chain compliant handling, and 15-minute observation after every dose.
Reporting
Aggregate completion figures at each round, and a reminder schedule so doses two and three actually happen. Never individual names.
The part most programmes get wrong: finishing
An HPV course is three doses at 0, 1–2 and 6 months. The clinical benefit depends on completing it, and the single most common failure of a corporate vaccination drive is that dose one is well attended, dose two is patchy, and dose three quietly does not happen.
That is a scheduling problem, not a clinical one, and it is the part we plan first. Dates for all three rounds are set before the first dose is given, employees are reminded directly rather than via HR, and anyone who misses a round completes at the clinic rather than dropping out of the programme.
Honest limits
- We are a small clinic, not a national vaccination contractor — see the comparison above for where a larger provider is the better choice.
- We do not provide cervical screening — no Pap smears, no HPV DNA testing. That belongs with each employee's OB-GYN.
- The vaccine is not useful for everyone. Benefit narrows with cumulative prior exposure, and at pre-vaccination screening we will tell an individual if we do not think it is worth their money. That conversation is between us and them.
- PhilHealth does not reimburse adult HPV vaccination, and most HMO plans exclude preventive vaccines. If your broker has told you otherwise, get it in writing before budgeting against it.