Evidence-based impact projections of single-dose human papillomavirus vaccination in India: a modelling study

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recommended updating dose schedules for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to include the single-dose schedule as an option for HPV vaccination in girls and young women aged 9–20 years. In a new study, researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have projected the expected impact of a national single-dose HPV vaccination programme for girls in India. The projections are based on 10 years of data published in 2021 from a cohort study in India, in which 17 000 participants received one, two, or three doses of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine. The new study was published in the journal The Lancet Oncology.

The researchers found that a national single-dose HPV vaccination programme for girls in India could substantially reduce the incidence of cervical cancer, to below the incidence rate set by WHO as the threshold for the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem. The threshold would be achieved both nationally and in each Indian state.

If introduced now, HPV vaccination would prevent close to 1 million cases of cervical cancer over the lifetime of birth cohorts currently aged 10 years or younger. Resources saved under a single-dose vaccination schedule could be used to broaden the age group of girls vaccinated from the primary target of ages 9–14 years to age 15 years or 20 years, preventing up to 800 000 additional cases of cervical cancer in India.

Man I, Georges D, de Carvalho TM, Ray Saraswati L, Bhandari P, Kataria I, et al.
Evidence-based impact projections of single-dose human papillomavirus vaccination in India: a modelling study
Lancet Oncol, Published online 26 September 2022;
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(22)00543-5 

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Read “Vaccine efficacy against persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 infection at 10 years after one, two, and three doses of quadrivalent HPV vaccine in girls in India: a multicentre, prospective, cohort study”, published in October 2021