Challenges of implementing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination policy

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Development of HPV vaccinesThe association between cervical cancer and HPV was discovered in the 1970s, HPV type 16 DNA was identified in biopsy samples in the early 1980s, and by 2003 the classification of the seven most prevalent HPV types that cause 87% of cervical cancers was described.4 The creation of preventive vaccines soon followed. At present no vaccines can treat existing HPV infection.Two vaccines have been developed so far and one, Gardasil, is already licensed for prevention of cervical cancer. Gardasil is a quadrivalent vaccine active against four HPV types—HPV-16 and HPV-18, associated with 70% of cervical cancers, and HPV-6 and HPV-11, associated with most cases of genital warts. The second vaccine, Cervarix will probably be licensed later this year. It is bivalent and protects against HPV-16 and HPV-18. Vaccines protecting against other oncogenic types of HPV may possibly be developed within 10 years.