HPV vaccine: one dose is enough

According to data just presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 's annual meeting, which is taking place this year from April 25 to 30 in Chicago, one dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is sufficient to provide effective protection. Two doses are now recommended in developed countries for young people, generally around the age of 11, before the onset of sexual activity.

Infections with a papillomavirus, which is highly contagious and transmitted during sexual relations, can cause precancerous lesions, which can develop, depending on their location, into cervical cancer, but also anal cancer, penile cancer or ENT cancer.

“ This result could help us achieve the goal of vaccinating three-quarters of the world's adolescents,” Statnews reports . Norman Sharpless, who headed the US National Cancer Institute a few years ago, confirmed this in an interview with the American medical news site: “I think this is the most important ongoing clinical trial on cancer prevention. We have a long history of failure in this area .” He enthuses:

“It's fantastic to have such clear evidence to support our practice. It will make rolling out the HPV vaccine worldwide much easier and less expensive – and most importantly, it will save millions of lives.”

This trial was conducted in Costa Rica with 20,000 girls who received either a single dose or two doses of a human papillomavirus vaccine. The participants were followed for more than four years. Researchers showed that the vaccine's efficacy was the same, and excellent (over 97%), with one or two doses.