Jan 08, 2026 20:00:00

HPV vaccination for teenagers has dramatically reduced the rate of infection with the virus that increases the risk of cervical cancer to less than 1%

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common virus that many women will be infected with at some point in their lives, and is associated with diseases such as cervical cancer. Research has shown that vaccinating teenage girls with the HPV vaccine, which prevents HPV infection, significantly reduces the risk of subsequent infection with the virus.

Eurosurveillance | Human papillomavirus prevalence in first, second and third cervical cell samples from women HPV-vaccinated as girls, Denmark, 2017 to 2024: data from the Trial23 cohort study
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2025.30.27.2400820

Vaccines work: Cohort data from Denmark show real-world evidence of stable protection against HPV-related cervical cancer | EurekAlert!
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1090640

There are over 100 types of HPV, at least 14 of which are considered 'high-risk types' that can cause cervical cancer. In Japan, approximately 10,000 people develop cervical cancer each year, and approximately 2,800 die from it. More than 95% of cervical cancer cases are caused by HPV infection .

In Denmark, the quadrivalent HPV vaccination, which reduces the risk of infection with four types of HPV, has been administered to 14-year-old girls since 2008, and the 9-valent HPV vaccination, which covers a total of nine types of HPV, began in 2017. A Danish research team therefore analyzed cervical cell samples from women who received the HPV vaccine as teenagers to examine the rate of HPV infection.

The subjects were women aged 22 to 30 who had cervical cell samples taken during cervical cancer screening in Denmark between 2017 and 2024. The research team analyzed cell samples from a total of 8,659 women and compared the HPV infection rate and duration of infection between vaccinated and unvaccinated women.

Before the HPV vaccination of teenage girls began, HPV types 16 and 18 were found in approximately 74% of cervical cancer cases in Denmark, and 15-17% of women overall were infected with these HPV types. Both types 16 and 18 are covered by the quadrivalent HPV vaccine, which began being administered in 2008.

Analysis of cervical cell samples from women who had received the HPV vaccine revealed that as of 2021, less than 1% of women were infected with types 16 and 18, meaning the disease has been virtually eradicated. Furthermore, the infection rate among women who had not received the HPV vaccine remained at around 5%, suggesting that

herd immunity had been achieved.

However, about one-third of the study participants were infected with high-risk HPV types not covered by the HPV vaccine, and new infections with these HPV types were more common among women who received the HPV vaccine than among women who did not.

The research team concluded, 'HPV vaccines are effective in reducing infection with HPV16/18, the HPV types that cause more than 70% of cervical cancers and are covered by the vaccine. However, the proportion of women infected with high-risk HPV types not covered by the vaccine remains high and stable, indicating that screening for these generations needs to continue, although it may be less intensive.'