SYNOPSIS
HPV-vaccinated women, in some settings, are less likely to get routine cervical cancer screening, which is necessary to reduce population incidence of cervical cancer.
TITLE
HPV vaccines—A review of the first decade
CITATION
Harper DM, DeMars LR. HPV vaccines—A review of the first decade. Gynecologic Oncology 2017;146(1):196-204.
SUMMARY
This mostly uncritical review of a decade of HPV vaccination draws attention to an underdiscussed aspect, which is that “[p]revention of cervical cancer must still rely on participation in ongoing screening programs.” The authors show that in many settings, HPV-vaccinated women are significantly less likely to get routine cervical cancer screening than unvaccinated women. Of concern, “the uptake of screening after the HPV vaccine introduction…has been lower than necessary to reduce population incidence of cervical cancer.” The authors comment that administering repeat doses of HPV vaccine to already vaccinated women “causes harm with no evidence of any improved prevention of HPV infections.”