The results of a study proved the effectiveness of a vaccine against the papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer, which is transmitted through sexual activity. This may contribute to supporting the campaign targeting adolescents seeking to vaccinate them against the virus at an early age.
The incidence of cervical cancer has decreased significantly among British women who received the vaccine against the human papillomavirus, which causes this type of cancer, according to a study published Thursday (4 November 2021).
The authors of this research, published in the scientific journal "The Lancet", confirmed that their study "provides the first direct evidence of the effect of vaccination against HPV with the bivalent vaccine "Cervarix" on the emergence of cervical cancer."
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Cervical cancers are almost always caused by the sexually transmitted papilloma virus. Vaccines against this virus have been available since the mid-2000s.
Several countries have launched campaigns targeting adolescents in an effort to vaccinate them at an age before the start of sexual activity, as in France, which this year expanded the scope of vaccination to include boys, although the coverage rate is still far below the specified goals. Until now, the efficacy of vaccines against the infection itself and against the development of pre-cancerous lesions was well known, but data on the frequency of reported cancers were less accurate.
The Lancet study relates to this aspect, and it showed a significant decrease in the incidence of cervical cancer among women eligible for the vaccination campaign in Britain, which was launched in the late first decade of the twenty-first century. It was found that this decrease, which was measured in comparison with the percentage of cases in previous generations, is especially noticeable among women who are likely to receive the vaccine at the age of 12 or 13 years. Cervical cancer has almost disappeared in this group in recent years.
But these conclusions are not sufficient. The researchers expected a limited number of cancers in this age group, which does not exceed 25 years today, even without vaccination, so they stressed the need to continue to study the incidence of cancer in the coming years.
In addition, for a long-term follow-up, the study only covered women who were included in the early British vaccination campaign, when the GSK Cervarix vaccine was used. However, this vaccine was replaced by another, "Gardasil" from the American company "Merck", known under the name "MSD" outside the United States, and the study cannot therefore provide any conclusions about it.
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