The HPV vaccine is safe and cuts cervical cancer risk by 80%, 2 large reviews find

The HPV vaccine is very safe and highly effective at preventing cervical cancer, according to two large reviews that support routinely vaccinating adolescents against human papillomavirus

The HPV vaccine is very safe and highly effective at preventing cervical cancer, according to two large reviews that support routinely vaccinating adolescents against human papillomavirus.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and can cause genital warts. Merck’s Gardasil vaccine, the first version of which was approved in 2006, protects against nine cancer-causing HPV strains.

Nearly 60 randomized controlled clinical trials involving 160,000 participants, considered the gold-standard of scientific research, indicated that HPV vaccination is effective at preventing infection, as well as precancerous cervical lesions and genital warts. The two papers, published recently by Britain’s widely respected Cochrane Review team, also included 225 observational studies of more than 132 million people worldwide. Together, the studies showed that girls who were vaccinated against HPV before age 16 had an 80% lower cervical cancer risk.

“The vaccine works. Full stop,” said Dr. Linda Eckert, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington and an expert in the causes of cervical cancer. “The vaccine is safe. Full stop.”

Eckert, who was not involved with the reviews, praised them as “methodically rigorous,” “robust” and “gold standard.”