The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) yesterday confirmed that it would provide free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations to seventh-grade girls from the middle of December, as an infectious disease doctor said that the bivalent vaccine is about 90 percent effective in preventing cervical cancer.
HPVs are a group of more than 100 types of viruses that are extremely common worldwide and transmitted mainly through sexual contact. At least 13 types can cause cancer and nearly all cases of cervical cancer can be attributed to HPV infection, with two high-risk HPV types — 16 and 18 — causing about 70 percent of cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions.
The HPA said cervical cancer is the seventh-leading cause of cancer deaths among women in Taiwan and the WHO has identified the primary target group for HPV vaccination as girls aged nine to 14.
Ninety-one countries have included HPV vaccinations in their national immunization programs, as has Taiwan in its 2025 health and welfare policy white papers, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
The vaccines have been purchased and would be distributed to local governments after the Food and Drug Administration finishes inspections, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民) on Oct. 24 asked why the government purchased bivalent vaccines — which protect against HPV16 and HPV18 — but not the advanced nonavalent vaccine — which protects against nine types of HPV, including HPV16 and HPV18.
The HPA yesterday asked National Taiwan University Hospital Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases director Huang Li-min (黃立民) to explain that bivalent vaccines are safe and effective.
Huang said HPVs can be classified into different species, with HPV16 belonging to the A9 species and HPV18 to the A7 species, and a total of 10 types of HPVs under the two species (A7 and A9).
While the government-funded bivalent vaccine protects against HPV16 and HPV18, it also offers cross-protection against infection with other HPV types in the species A9 and A7, he said, adding that studies suggest the cross protection is about 90 percent effective against precancerous cervical lesions.
More than 270 million HPV vaccines have been distributed since they were approved and the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety considers them “extremely safe,” he said.
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