Researchers have now had a chance to track the experiences of a large group of girls in New Mexico who had been injected with the Cervarix HPV vaccine more than six years ago. And they say that the vaccine continues to protect them from cervical cancer with no indication yet that a booster shot is needed.
Their study in The Lancet reports that all of the girls who had been inoculated were 100 percent protected against strains 16 and 18 of the human papilloma virus, which are the most common types that trigger cervical cancer. Eight percent of the girls who had been vaccinated with Cervarix reported health problems compared to 10 percent of the group which had been given a placebo. But none of the problems were caused by the vaccine.
"Although further assessment is necessary to confirm long-term effects, in view of the data from our study, we expect protection to continue for many more years," said Dr. Cosette Wheeler of the University of New Mexico. She conducted the study with colleagues from GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Cervarix.
- read the story in The Lancet