HPV vaccine extremely effective in the long term, new study shows

Anyone having doubts about whether to be vaccinated against HPV should take note of these new statistics

Stephen Gadd

Oct 17, 2017

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually-transmitted infection that can cause cervical cancer and every year, 375 Danish women die from this disease. Fortunately, vaccination is freely available and new figures show that the vaccine works.

A new study carried out by the Danish cancer society, Kræftens Bekæmpelse, has followed a group of more than 2,000 women from Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden who were given the vaccination before it was approved. The results show that it is still effective – ten to twelve years after first being administered.

None of the vaccinated women show signs of pre-cancerous cervical lesions or cervical cancer related to the four types of HPV that the vaccine protects against.

A message to doubters
The leader of the research, Susanne Krüger Kjær, is extremely happy with the results. “This is the longest follow-up period we have in relation to the HPV vaccine, and these women were vaccinated around four years before the vaccine was made readily available.”

“It is also a very encouraging message to those who subsequently chose to have themselves or their children vaccinated,” she added.