Brussels, 05/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - In a report published on 5 September, the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) in Stockholm called for vaccination of young girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV or genetic warts), which are the main cause of cancer of the uterus, the second most frequent cancer among women. The report updates the ECDC's 2008 vaccination guidelines for vaccination programmes in 19 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) in the light of research published over the past four years.
Vaccinations against HPV were introduced in Europe in 2006. The evidence available shows that the vaccine is safe to use and effective against precursors of cervical cancer. The ECDC regrets that vaccination levels are far too low in most countries and vary widely from one country to the next (from 17% in Luxembourg, for example, to 84% in Portugal). The ECDV recommends that governments step up their public information campaigns with the aid of all concerned (public authorities, healthcare professionals and people working with families), but no longer recommends HPV vaccination for boys. ECDC director Marc Sprenger says: “ECDC's conclusion is that including boys in the current HPV vaccination programmes is unlikely to be cost-effective. A better investment of public resources is to focus on immunising all girls; in particular those aged 10-14. This issue can be re-assessed when vaccination costs are significantly reduced.” In 2008, the ECDC recommended three doses over six months, but now says that this can be reduced to two doses, recent studies showing that there is no significant difference in terms of protection against warts if only two doses are administered. This would also lead to significant cost savings. (IL/transl.fl)