Single Dose Of HPV Vax Up To 98% Effective: Study

New York: The current standard for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in women is a three-dose regimen, with even one dose highly effective and providing up to 98 per cent protection, according to a study.

In a randomized controlled trial of 2,275 women in Kenya, researchers found that even after 18 months, the bivalent vaccine was 97.5 percent effective against two strains of HPV, and the non-adjuvant vaccine was 97.5 percent effective against two strains of HPV.

The nonadjuvant vaccine was also 89 percent effective against seven strains of HPV. Even if women tested positive for one strain of HPV, the vaccine protected them from other strains of the virus.

“The single-dose efficacy was similar to multiple doses,” said Ruane Barnabas, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Barnabas was a professor of global health at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle at the time of the study.

The results were published in the journal NEJM Evidence and were also presented this week at the 35th International Papillomavirus Conference in Washington, DC.

“These findings are a game-changer that could substantially reduce the incidence of HPV-attributable cervical cancer and place single-dose HPV vaccination as a high-value and high-impact public health intervention that is within our reach. is within,” said Professor Sam Kariuki, acting director-general at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, where the study was conducted.

However, the researchers said further studies are needed to test how long the vaccine lasts.

HPV vaccines are a powerful tool to reduce cervical cancer which kills one woman every two minutes worldwide.

Currently, only 15 percent of women worldwide are vaccinated against HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI). The World Health Organization aims to immunize 90 percent of 15-year-old girls against HPV by 2030.