Opinion Express View on cervical cancer vaccine drive: A healthy new year

The Pune-based company currently has an annual capacity of manufacturing 20-30 lakh doses. However, at Rs 2,000 a shot, the vaccine is expensive for a large section of the country’s population. Also, the overwhelming lack of awareness about the disease means that a mass inoculation drive is imperative to tackle the human papillomavirus (HPV) that’s responsible for close to 85 per cent of cervical cancer cases. The vaccination drive that will target girls in the age group of nine to 14 could be a game changer.

HPV is a common microbe. A combination of vaccination and screening facilities has stemmed its virulence in most developed countries. The global strategy encourages a minimum of two screenings of women by the time they are 35 and again by age 45. By all accounts, that doesn’t happen in India. In 2018, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended the inclusion of HPV vaccines in the country’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). But the high costs of vaccines, then manufactured by the pharma multinationals Merck and Glaxo Smithkline, proved a deterrent — the regimen costs upwards of Rs 4,000. The UIP — it targets more than 2.5 crore newborns and nearly 3 crore pregnant women every year — has demonstrated the capacity to surmount difficulties that have kept young women from accessing the vaccines. It has especially been effective in overcoming the hurdles posed by the country’s traditional public health care deficiencies. India’s success in inoculating people against Covid is also well-known. The work during the public health emergency to bust myths around the shots could especially prove handy for vaccinators.

Cervac was approved by the Drugs Controller General of India in 2022 on the back of encouraging results in clinical trials — it generated an antibody response 1,000 times more than the baseline required against all HPV variants. SII’s admirable track record during the pandemic is ample proof of its capabilities to upscale production in a crisis. In the coming months, health authorities and the Pune-based institute will be keenly watched, with hope.