GoKawiilWomen who received an HPV vaccine in early adolescence have virtually zero risk of dying from cervical cancer before the age of 30, according to a groundbreaking study, but falling vaccination rates could see a rise in avoidable deaths.
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, according to the World Health Organization, and high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) cause 99% of cases. About 3,300 women in England are diagnosed with the disease every year.
While the HPV vaccine prevents about 90% of cervical cancers, until now the impact on survival has been unknown. In new analysis, researchers from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) used official cancer mortality and vaccination data for women aged 20 to 34 to calculate the impact of vaccination on cervical cancer survival.
While the study, funded by Cancer Research UK and published in the Lancet, saw little change in cervical cancer mortality in those who were never offered HPV vaccination, there were substantial falls in those who were offered vaccination after the HPV jab was introduced in 2008.
The impact on mortality has been so great that the authors estimate that the likelihood of girls who are inoculated when they are 12 or 13 dying from cervical cancer before the age of 30 is almost zero. For vaccinated women aged 30-34, the relative risk of death from the disease is 63% lower.
And for the first time in recorded history, no women aged 20 to 24 died from cervical cancer in England between 2020 and 2024. In all, the HPV vaccine has saved hundreds of lives, the authors conclude.
Peter Sasieni, professor of cancer epidemiology at QMUL and lead author of the study, said: “We estimate that since its introduction, HPV vaccination has prevented nearly 200 young women from dying from cervical cancer in England.”
The jab, which also protects against certain cancers of the anus, penis, vagina, vulva, mouth and throat, as well as genital warts, is given to girls and boys in year 8, with catchup vaccinations offered in some areas in years 9 and 10.
WHO’s global strategy on cervical cancer states that by 2030, all countries should vaccinate 90% of girls with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15, screen 70% of women and treat 90% of those with cervical disease.
Until the pandemic, vaccination rates were close to WHO’s target, but have fallen significantly since then.
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