In March, Sweden reported a huge reduction in cervical cancer among women who had the HPV vaccine in adolescence. This added to data from Denmark, Scotland, the Netherlands and the United States all pointing in the same direction: vaccination is preventing cancer.
Now it’s England’s turn to make headlines. And, as well as reducing cervical cancer, health authorities have reported no deaths from the disease among women aged 20 to 24 – the first time this has been achieved over a five year period.
Based on historical trends, the number of ‘expected deaths’ was 23. That’s twenty-three young women alive in England today. They are working, studying and socialising. And, of course, nobody can say which 23 women were spared by vaccination.
Prof David Salisbury, who was Director of Immunisation at the UK Department of Health, when the vaccine was introduced almost twenty years ago, welcomed the striking new data.
‘When the vaccine team at the then Department of Health led the implementation of HPV vaccination in England in 2008, we hoped for success,’ he told Vaccines Today. ‘Nobody expected that within such a short time, we would see the risk of death from cervical cancer dropping to zero in young women. Proof, if it was ever needed, of the value of vaccines.’
Professor Peter Sasieni of Queen Mary University of London, who led the new study, praised the immunisation programme and called for higher uptake of the HPV vaccine. ‘The key takeaway is that the HPV vaccine works and we’re able to make it work on a population scale,’ he said.
Prof Sadieni estimated that 200 deaths from cervical cancer have been avoided in England alone since the HPV vaccine was introduced. However, this enormous achievement cannot be taken for granted.
In the cohort aged 20 to 24 at the time of the study, vaccination coverage was close to 90%. Vaccination is offered to adolescents aged 12 to 13. However, fewer of today’s adolescents are protected, meaning that ten years from now, cervical cancer deaths could return.
‘In England as a whole, vaccine uptake has dropped to 76%, and in London it’s just 61%. There are local authorities where under 50% of girls have been vaccinated,’ Prof Sasieni said. ‘If that’s what’s going on we’ll see a resurgence of cervical cancer and young women dying of cervical cancer,’ said Prof Sasieni.
WHO is urging countries to hit the European target of 90% HPV vaccine uptake in girls as part of a global effort to end cervical cancer. The latest data shows that eliminating cervical cancer deaths is possible, but only if vaccination rates are on course.
HPV vaccine protecting men too
Girls and boys are now offered HPV vaccines in most European countries. This was not always the case. When the vaccines were first introduced, most countries prioritised girls before adding boys to national programmes.
Uptake among boys is lower than in girls. However, there is growing evidence that boys benefit from HPV vaccination directly, while also reducing the circulation of the virus in their communities.
A very large new study, looking back at cancer rates among boys and men, has found much lower rates of disease in those who were vaccinated against HPV. The paper analysed data from 615,155 vaccinated males and 2,290,623 unvaccinated males. Overall, vaccination was associated with 46% lower risk of developing HPV-related cancers such as head and neck, oesophageal, anal and penile cancers.