Young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab [View all]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c621z28z138o

Young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab
Sophie Hutchinson

Children vaccinated at age 12–13 against HPV (human papillomavirus) have close to zero risk of dying from cervical cancer before the age of 30, landmark new research reveals.

The first study of its kind shows deaths have fallen sharply since school-age girls began being offered it in 2008, and around 200 lives have been saved in England so far thanks to the vaccine.

Between 2020 and 2024, no cervical cancer deaths were recorded in women aged 20 to 24 - the first time that had happened over a five-year period.

Without vaccination, around 23 deaths would have been expected.

"It's incredible to think that a single jab can almost eliminate a particular type of cancer," said Prof Peter Sasieni, the lead researcher at Queen Mary University of London.

Overall, cervical cancer is still the 14th most common cancer among females in the UK, with 3,300 people diagnosed every year.

It is thought HPV, a virus which is spread through close skin-to-skin contact, causes 99% of those cases.



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