Govt push to HPV shot for girls in 9-14 yrs age group
Sitharaman in her Budget speech also said the vaccine management platform U-WIN — on the lines of CoWIN used for Covid-19 vaccination — would be rolled out across the country for the universal immunisation programme.
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The campaign is likely to use the indigenously developed vaccine, marketed by Serum Institute of India, called Cervavac. (Photo source: Getty/Thinkstock)UNION Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced that the government will encourage vaccination for girls in the age group of 9 to 14 years for prevention of cervical cancer. The minister, however, did not make any mention of separate allocation for the same.
“The blueprint of how the government will support HPV vaccination hasn’t been finalised yet. However, the mention in the Budget speech shows the intention of the government to tackle vaccine-preventable cancer,” said a health ministry official.
Sitharaman in her Budget speech also said the vaccine management platform U-WIN — on the lines of CoWIN used for Covid-19 vaccination — would be rolled out across the country for the universal immunisation programme.
Sources had previously told The Indian Express that the government was likely to roll out the HPV vaccination campaign by the second quarter of this year, covering all eligible girls in three phases over three years. After the catch-up phase, the vaccine would be included as part of routine immunisation for girls at age 9, as per the source. This is what the National Technical Advisory Group for Immunization (NTAGI), which guides the government on its vaccination policy, had also suggested.
The campaign is likely to use the indigenously developed vaccine, marketed by Serum Institute of India, called Cervavac. The vaccine is available in the market for Rs 2,000 per dose, which the company is likely to supply to the government at a much lower cost.
While the blueprint is being prepared, officials from various states confirmed that workshops on administering HPV vaccine were conducted in 2023 in preparation for the vaccination drive. Officials from the ministries of health, women and child development and education are likely to coordinate for the rollout of the drive in schools and government vaccination points.
The NTAGI had also recommended that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) conduct trials on the efficacy of a single-dose regimen of HPV vaccine in the age group of 9-15 years. While all the HPV vaccines available globally state that a two-dose schedule has to be followed, the World Health Organization says that even a single dose has “strikingly high efficacy”.
With more than 95% of all cervical cancers linked to persistent infection with certain high-risk type of HPV, a government vaccination campaign can effectively reduce its incidence and death rate. HPV infection is also linked to cancers of the anus, vagina and oropharynx, so a vaccination campaign is likely to bring down the incidence of these as well.
The quadrivalent vaccine, which is likely to be used for the campaign, will prevent infections of the four most common cancer-causing types of HPV — 16, 18, 6 and 11. Cervical cancer continues to be the second most common cancer among women in India, with 1.25 lakh cases and 75,000 deaths reported each year.
There are over 100 countries that have an HPV vaccination programme. While the vaccines were initially approved as they effectively prevented HPV infections, in 2020 and 2021, studies from Sweden and England also demonstrated that vaccination in teenage years could reduce the risk of cervical cancer by over 85% at age 30.
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