For some years, vaccination programs in different countries have included a new dose that is administered mainly to adolescents and is aimed at protection against the human papillomavirus (HPV). Although it is known that most people with an active sexual life will be exposed to this virus at some point in their existence and their immune system will eliminate the infection naturally, some of its varieties are potentially dangerous and can cause genital warts and cancer of the cervix.
However, the launch of the HPV vaccine was surrounded by a certain controversy generated by anti-vaccine movements that warned of its alleged side effects, an alarm that health professionals deny. “ After more than three hundred million doses of vaccines administered in the world, there are no red flags. In the case of the vaccine against the human papillomavirus, surveillance has been even greater than with others due to the doubt that was generated in society, and no problem secondary to vaccination has been found ”, explains David Moreno , coordinator of the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics.
A new scientific review also shows that the HPV vaccine is an effective protective measure against cervical lesions in women who are vaccinated between 15 and 26 years of age. This work summarizes the results of various studies involving more than 70,000 women from all continents who received the vaccine in the last eight years.
The work evaluates the evidence of two vaccines: the bivalent, directed against HPV16 and 18 – the types that have a higher risk of generating premalignant lesions-, and the quadrivalent vaccine directed against HPV16 and 18 and against two other low-risk types that cause genital warts. The results revealed that, in young women without HPV, the vaccine reduced the risk of developing premalignant lesions. About 164 out of 10,000 women who received the placebo and only two out of 10,000 who received the vaccine developed cervical lesions.
Now it remains to know the impact of the vaccine on cervical cancer, but the problem is that this disease can take many years to appear after contact with HPV, so no study to date has performed a follow-up long enough to verify.
What does seem true is that the vaccine is more effective in young women than in those who are vaccinated at an older age , most likely because they have already had previous contact with the virus.
The HPV vaccine in Spain
In Spain, the vaccine against the human papilloma virus has been incorporated into the vaccination schedules of the autonomous communities since 2007/2008. The 14-year-old girls were vaccinated, but for some time the vaccine has been given to 12-year-old girls , according to Dr. Moreno.
Regarding the type of vaccine administered, in some communities it is bivalent and in others it is quadrivalent. Furthermore, a few months ago Catalonia has become the first region to use a new nonavalent vaccine , the effects of which were not included in the above-mentioned study, since it has only been in use for a few years.
“In Spain we still do not have data on the incidence of HPV cases since the vaccine began to be included in the calendar, but in other countries such as the US, Australia and the United Kingdom, a very significant decrease has already been observed. of the cases of infections, genital warts and precancerous lesions due to HPV ”, explains Dr. Moreno to VERY.
In addition, it is possible that the target group for the vaccine will expand in the future. “Many scientific societies, such as the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, recommend vaccinating not only girls, but also boys, as more than fifteen countries in the world do, such as the US, Australia, Canada, Brazil or Argentina,” he concludes the expert.
