Significance of HPV vaccination against cervical cancer stressed by expert

A senior expert underlined the importance of young women and girls early in puberty to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus, which can cause cervical cancer.

"It's been clinically proven that the vaccines will generate the best prevention effectiveness if they are taken before a woman is sexually active," said Hua Keqin, a member of the standing committee of the Chinese Medical Association's branch of gynecology and obstetrics.

"Parents don't need to worry that the protective efficacy will drop significantly over the years if their girls get the vaccine at a young age," said Hua, who is also Party secretary and head of gynecology at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, during an interview on Wednesday, which is also Chinese Doctors' Day.

She said the protective efficacy of such vaccines remains at a high level even five decades after they were given.

The World Health Organization suggests girls between nine and 14 years old who have not been sexually active as the priority individuals to receive vaccines against HPV infection.

Hua suggested females be vaccinated before the arrival of the first peak age bracket, 15 to 24.

Regular screening, which can discover early cervical cancer in patients who usually show few symptoms, twice a year was necessary even after taking HPV vaccines, experts added.

The WHO data showed that new cervical cancer cases around the globe reached 570,000 in 2018 with 311,000 deaths. The number of cases of this cancer was 106,000 in China, with nearly 50,000 deaths that year.

Besides HPV infection, other factors related to cervical cancer include the age when infected by the virus, immunity and smoking, according to experts.