Protection against diseases caused by the sexually transmitted human papillon virus (HPV) is possible with vaccines developed today. However, the effectiveness of the vaccines developed against the virus, which causes cervical cancer in women and causes 300,000 women to die each year, continued to be a matter of debate.
Today, the Expert Advisory Group for Immunity (SAGE), affiliated to the World Health Organization, shared the latest data on the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine after the meetings where research on vaccine efficacy was evaluated. The assessment shared by the group included a warning message, especially to women.
A single dose of vaccine is sufficient
SAGE, in its shared evaluation, announced that they concluded that a single dose of HPV vaccine provides sufficient protection against cervical cancer. Saying that the result of the research is ‘game-changer’, SAGE explained that by demonstrating the effect of single dose use, more people in middle and low-income countries will be able to access the vaccine.
With its new statement, SAGE also disabled the previous instructions it made. Earlier guidelines recommended 2 doses of HPV vaccine to children, teens, and adult women.
WHO, under the ‘Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer’, aims to have 90% of women in the world be vaccinated against HPV and 70% screened for cancer.