Advocates urge parents to vaccinate their children against HPV, which causes 90% of cervical cancers.
HPV vaccines reduce the risk of cervical cancer by 80% in women vaccinated by age 16, and aren’t associated with serious side effects, a new report finds.
A large US study finds high rates of infection among younger women, a dip in midlife, and an increase starting at age 70.
Since 2020, the ECDC said all European countries have reported a decreased incidence of cervical cancer among vaccinated women.
The findings support the case for sex-neutral vaccination programs.
Twenty years after the approval of the first HPV vaccines, studies continue to find new benefits.
Initiating the vaccine series at ages 9 to 10 also makes it easier to complete the multi-dose series before adolescence.
Clinics that more often initiated HPV vaccination at age 9 had lower unvaccination rates.
Overall, cervical cancer rates in women ages 20 to 31 fell 27% from 2000-2005 (before the vaccine was approved) to 2016-2021, after the HPV vaccine became available.
The vaccine has reduced cervical cancer by nearly 90% in women vaccinated as teens and has been studied in more than 50 randomized controlled trials.
