 Click here for an accessible text version of this infographic This vaccine gives protection against the most high risk strains of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), including ones which cause cervical, mouth and genital cancers. Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under the age of 35. About 3,200 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the UK every year and around 900 women die from it. There are three HPV vaccines available which protect against two, four or nine types of the HPV virus. These are Cervarix (two types), Gardasil (four types) and Gardasil 9 (nine types). All of them protect against the two most common high-risk types of the virus: 16 and 18. These two strains are linked to over 70% of cervical cancers and 63% of penile cancers as well as most mouth, anus and throat cancers. In the UK Gardasil and Gardasil 9 are available. Gardasil is offered for free as part of the NHS programme. In addition to types 16 and 18, it also protects against types 6 and 11, which are responsible for around 90% of genital warts. Cervarix vaccine was previously used in the UK until 2012 and is also used in other countries. |
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In clinical trials, the HPV vaccine was over 99% effective at preventing pre-cancer caused by HPV types 16 or 18 in young women, which are linked to 70% of cervical cancers. It is estimated that by 2058 after 50 years of this vaccination programme, 64,000 cervical cancers and 50,000 other cancers will have been prevented. The World Health Organization have declared a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer completely, through vaccination and cervical screening. It is important that women who have been vaccinated continue to take up the offer of cervical smear testing later in life, so that other kinds of cervical cancer can be picked up. HPV vaccine programmes around the world are currently being evaluated. Evidence from a recent study of 66 million young men and women showed an 83% reduction in high-risk HPV in teenage girls, and 66% reduction in women aged 20-24. The study also showed precancerous cervical lesions declined by 51% in teenage girls and 31% in women up to age 24 (Analysis of HPV Vaccine Effectiveness). In the graph below, the prevalence of high-risk HPV types 16 and 18 has reduced with the increasing number of women who have received the vaccine in England. Studies have shown that protection against HPV lasts at least 10 years, and this is expected to be long-term. More information about how the vaccine works is below.  Click here for an accessible text version of this graph As the HPV vaccine is still new, we won’t know the effect on rates of cervical cancer until those women who have received the vaccine are older. However, studies looking at the percentage of women diagnosed with cervical abnormalities have shown a marked reduction since the introduction of the vaccination programme. The graph below shows the percentage of 20 year old women diagnosed with cervical abnormalities by their birth year. This shows that as vaccine uptake has increased with each birth year, cervical abnormalities have fallen.  |
