One of the only vaccines that prevents cancer is even more effective than scientists knew.
For young women who receive the HPV vaccine in their early teen years, the risk of dying from cervical cancer before turning 30 is effectively reduced to zero, according to new research published in The Lancet. While the HPV vaccine was known to prevent around 90% of cervical cancer cases, the new study is the first to explore its impact on mortality rates – and the results reveal just how strong the vaccine’s protection really is.
The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, offers powerful evidence that HPV vaccination programs are saving lives. In England, roughly 200 cervical cancer deaths have been prevented to date, but those numbers are much larger on a global scale. HPV, short for human papillomavirus, is a common sexually-transmitted infection that is spread through skin to skin contact. While the immune system usually flushes out HPV infection, it can cause abnormal cell growth in some infected people, which can cause multiple forms of cancer years later.
In its aim to eliminate cervical cancer worldwide, the World Health Organization is pushing all of its member countries to vaccinate 90% of girls by age 15. If its goals are met, 62 million deaths from cervical cancer could be prevented by the year 2120. In the paper, the researchers point to their findings as evidence that the WHO’s goals are within reach, urging even more focus on boosting vaccine uptake in young people around the world.
Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer diagnosed in women, causing an estimated 660,000 new cases per year. In 2022, 94% of the 350,000 deaths from cervical cancer were in low and middle income countries, particularly in Central America, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
“As vaccinated generations grow older, we’ll see many more lives saved from cervical cancer,” the publication’s lead researcher Professor Peter Sasieni said. “It is incredible to think that a single jab can almost eliminate a particular type of cancer, and this new research shows just how vital it is to keep HPV vaccination levels high so more people are protected.”
Not just women
The HPV vaccine offers powerful protection, but people who have received it are still encouraged to opt into cervical cancer screenings because the vaccine doesn’t protect against every high-risk strain of HPV. Together, the vaccine and routine screenings offer the most robust prevention.
The HPV infection isn’t only associated with cervical cancer and women aren’t the only ones who should get vaccinated. The vaccine can also lower the risk for cancers of the mouth and throat, vaginal cancer, vulvar cancer, anal cancer, and penile cancer. The vaccine works best when administered between age 9 and 12, but older teens and people in their 20s are also encouraged to get vaccinated – including men.
In spite of the risks and the overwhelmingly positive evidence, HPV vaccination rates have slumped in some parts of the world since the pandemic. In the U.S., the HPV vaccine’s adoption rates for young people between ages 13 and 17 peaked in 2021, with rates ticking down afterward – a worrying trend in an era with vaccine hesitancy now woven into public health policy.