The Efficacy of anti-HPV Inoculation

"Our study demonstrated that HPV vaccinations are highly effective in reducing cervical-cell abnormalities, particularly against the high-grade lesions which have the potential to become cancerous later in life."
"[HPV vaccination and screening are both important for reducing the risk of cervical cancer] even among those that are vaccinated, because the risk is still there -- it's only lower."
"We know the people who are vaccinated are at a lower risk of cervical cancer, so we may [want to] tailor our cancer-screening program to those people who are vaccinated versus unvaccinated, because the risk levels are different now"
Dr. Huiming Yang, medical director, screening programs, Alberta Health Services

It was once a controversial vaccine offered by the province to young girls in an effort to protect them from a cancer caused by a sexually-transmitted virus. Now, eight years later, a new study suggests that the HPV vaccine really is working.

There was a general call some years back in various Canadian provinces to inoculate girls in high school against the human papilloma virus. There was some resistance from anti-vaccinators but most responsible families were convinced by health professionals who explained the safety and efficacy of the inoculation to prevent girls and women from acquiring deadly cancers in the future, and the majority of girls received their vaccinations at their high schools.

A study out of Alberta published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal affirmed that researchers in the province found young women who had been immunized as girls against the sexually transmitted virus had a fifty percent lower risk of being infected with cervical-cell anomalies than those of their cohorts who hadn't been vaccinated through the school-based inoculation program.

Pap screening demonstrated 11.8 percent abnormal cervical cells in the vaccinated women who took part in the study, as opposed to 16.1 percent with abnormal cervical cells among those who had failed to be immunized against HPV. It was also found that three doses of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine meant to protect against four sub-types of the virus -- two of which produce 70 percent of cervical cancer cases -- were more successful in protecting the subjects than two.

The two HPV vaccines licensed for use in Canada are Gardasil, designed to protect against four virus sub-types causing cervical cancer and genital warts, and Cervarix, a bivalent vaccine protecting against the two sub-types known to cause the majority of cervical malignancies. They were licensed for three separate doses to inoculate girls from the age of nine to women up to 26 years of age.

In addition, Gardasil has since been recommended for protective use in males within the same age group. Cervarix, at the present time has not been approved for boys and young men.

Location of cervical cancer and an example of normal and abnormal cells

It is estimated that 75 percent of sexually active young people would be infected with HPV at some time in their lives without vaccination, according to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. The study recently published noted as well that girls and women who had been vaccinated against HPV were likelier than their non-immunized counterparts to undergo Pap tests screening for cervical cancer.

The take-away from the study is that HPV vaccination and screening both have their vital place in reducing the risk of cervical cancer.

Globally, cervical cancer is recognized as the fourth-most-common cancer and the fourth-most-common cause of death for cancer in women. Some 70 percent of cervical cancers occur in developing countries of the world and it remains the most common cause of cancer death in low-income countries, while in developed countries cervical screening has reduced its rates.