Cervical cancer vaccine - is it effective? - "I am healthy!"

Cervical cancer (CC)

In the structure of malignant neoplasms in women, it is in second place in terms of prevalence, second only to breast tumors.

Scientists have proven the connection of the disease with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which infects most of the adult population of the planet. It has been established that 34 species of all identified strains of papillomavirus are oncogenic, capable of causing transformation of the cells lining the cervical canal of the uterus and leading to the development of a malignant tumor.

To protect women from severe cancer, which kills up to 50% of patients within five years after the onset of the disease, a vaccine was developed.

The following vaccines that protect against malignant lesions of the female genital organs are registered in Russia: Gardasil, Cervarix.

How the HPV vaccine works

The HPV virus, present for a long time in the human body, is capable of causing unfavorable changes in the DNA of the cells of the mucous membranes of the vagina, cervix, rectum, etc.
These changes lead to the development of precancerous diseases and then to cancer. Infection with the HPV virus occurs in 99.4% of cases through sexual contact. The human papillomavirus vaccine can prevent infection with certain types of virus and prevent the development of cancer.

The HPV vaccine is made from synthetic proteins that completely replicate the structure of the outer shell of the real papillomavirus.

It also contains aluminum, sodium chloride (salt), water, L-histidine, polysorbate 80 and borax to stimulate the immune system and maintain vaccine stability.

The vaccine does not contain live or killed virus or even DNA fragments of the virus, so it cannot cause cancer or other HPV-related diseases.

When a vaccine is administered, the body produces antibodies in response to a protein identical to the viral one. And when a person is exposed to the real virus, those same antibodies will prevent the virus from entering the body's cells and causing infection.

After vaccination, antibodies against HPV are constantly present in our body on the surface of the mucous membranes, creating the necessary level of immunity. Their concentration is especially high in the vagina and on the surface of the cervix. During sexual intercourse with a partner infected with papillomavirus, the vaccinated person's antibodies attach to the surface of the viruses and prevent them from entering the cells, thus preventing infection.

At what age is vaccination required?

Vaccination is primarily recommended for girls (and in many countries, boys) aged 11 to 14 years. It can also be offered as additional prevention to women under 19 years of age, as well as men under 26 years of age who have sex with men.

Why is it better from 11 years old?

It is important that vaccination is carried out before exposure to infection, that is, before sexual activity begins. But at the same time, the immune system must already be sufficiently developed.

At the age of 11, ideal conditions are created for:

• two-dose vaccinations;
• the opportunity to take advantage of an immunization appointment in conjunction with DPT (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-poliomyelitis), prescribed between 11 and 13 years of age, to administer one of the doses;
• obtaining better vaccination results.

At a later age, the vaccine is still effective. And even if HPV infection has already occurred, vaccination can reduce the likelihood of developing cancer by at least 60%.

What is HPV?

Human papillomavirus (HPV - Human Papillomavirus) is the common name for a group of viruses that includes more than 100 species.

There are low and high risk HPV.

In the first case, warts appear on the skin, papillomas on the hands, feet, neck, damage to the skin and mucous membranes in the genital area, but the body’s immune system usually copes with the infection.

High-risk viruses cause precancerous and cancerous changes in the cervix and external genitalia. Currently, 10–15 high-risk viruses are known. Most cases of cervical cancer (80%) are associated with viruses types 16 and 18.

How does HPV infection occur?

The source of the virus is a person who is infected with HPV. This virus is transmitted through contact of skin or mucous membranes. Some of the HPV viruses are sexually transmitted and affect the genitals of men and women.

The peak incidence occurs at a young age, when people most often have sex; there is a high chance that a person over 25 years of age already has the HPV virus or once had it.

How to determine whether a person is a carrier of the virus?

Only after laboratory analysis. Most HPV infections do not cause symptoms or outward signs.

How to understand that an infection has occurred?

Typically, HPV infection is asymptomatic, so a person may not even realize that he has it. In addition, the infection can go away on its own, but often becomes chronic.

HPV infection can be diagnosed using a Pap test - the primary screening for cervical cancer and precancerous changes. A gynecologist can also detect HPV when he sees morphological changes in the cervix.

HPV tests are not available for men.

Are only women carriers of HPV?

No. HPV is one of the most common infections in both women and men.

What happens after infection with HPV?

The peculiarity of the virus is that it penetrates the cell nucleus of the basal layer of the cervical epithelium. That is, there is no circulation of the virus in the blood, and therefore there are no symptoms of fever, weakness, or intoxication. Clinical signs of HPV (warts, condylomas) may or may not appear over time.

Did you get sick once and that’s it?

Even if the body defeats the human papillomavirus, it can become infected again. Our body does not acquire immunity to it.

How to cure HPV?

The bad news is that there is no cure for HPV. The good thing is that you can detect the presence of a disease that can be caused by a virus in time and begin treatment.

How are HPV and cervical cancer related?

Unfortunately, the connection is direct and strong. High-risk types of HPV are the main cause of the appearance and development of not only cervical cancer, but also cancer of the genital organs of women and men, as well as children. Children become infected during the passage of an HPV-infected mother through the birth canal.

How to protect yourself from HPV?

Since the disease is transmitted through intimate or sexual contact, the only option is complete abstinence from sexual activity. Let's be honest, this option is not suitable for anyone. HPV can be contracted even during a monogamous relationship if the partner has been sexually active in the past.

Using a condom reduces the risk of infection, but does not guarantee 100% protection. The virus can enter the human body from any infected area of ​​the skin.

The best solution to avoid viral infection is vaccination. If possible, it should be done before the start of sexual activity. Vaccination does not protect against all types of HPV, but it does fight against those that cause cervical cancer.

Comparisons of vaccination products

Vaccines that have received approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are allowed for use in Belgium.

• Gardasil ® manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur MSD. This vaccine provides protection against four strains of HPV - 6, 11, 16 and 18.
• Gardasil 9 (Gardasil 9®), also from Sanofi Pasteur MSD. It provides extended protection against nine strains of HPV - 6, 11, 16, 18,31, 33, 45, 52 and 58
• Cervarix ® from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. The vaccine provides protection against the two main strains of papillomavirus that cause cervical cancer - 16 and 18.

Currently, mainly two drugs are used - Gardasil 9 and Cervarix. Nine-valent Gardasil 9 has almost completely replaced tetravalent Gardasil since it provides the same level of protection against a larger number of strains.

At the same time, the relevance of the drug Cervarix remains. HPV strains 16 and 18 are responsible for 80% of cervical cancer cases, so the protection provided by this vaccine sufficiently reduces the chances of contracting the most aggressive variants of HPV. With a lower cost compared to Gardasil 9, this drug may become an option.

All three vaccines are made on the basis of biosynthetic proteins that mimic the viral envelope and are not capable of infecting humans. These vaccines cannot transmit HPV infection.

Like many other vaccines, HPV shots contain an adjuvant that is used to boost the immune system's response—it also does not pose a health risk.

All three known HPV vaccines do not contain preservatives, latex, antibiotics, thimerosal or mercury.

When to get vaccinated against HPV and cervical cancer

Many people are concerned about when to get vaccinated against cervical cancer. What is the best age for this? First, it should be noted that vaccination is recommended by doctors, but not required.

The timing of vaccination must fully comply with the instructions for the vaccine; they differ for Gardasil and Cervarix. The best age for vaccination is 15-17 years, when a person has formed and puberty is almost over. Girls who are sexually active should be diagnosed for the papilloma virus and have a clear determination of the type of infection. For this purpose, PCR (smear from the cervix and vagina) is used. You should first consult your doctor about contraindications and side effects, including possible allergies. The choice of vaccine, as well as the decision to use it, remains with the woman. Remember, a vaccine prevents, not cures, a disease. Often young healthy women refuse vaccination, thinking that HPV will bypass them, and vice versa, women with cancer ask for vaccination, but it will not help them.

But new data have appeared in the last 2 years about the effectiveness of HPV vaccination in people who have already had precancer (dysplasia) and early cervical cancer in preventing relapses of the disease, the claim decreased from 18-15% to 1-2%, which forces doctors to reconsider approaches to vaccination .

Indications for use

For women

The main indication is the primary prevention of cervical cancer, as well as precancerous diseases of the genital organs and papillomatosis of the skin/mucous membranes. The cervical cancer vaccine also protects against both vaginal and rectal cancer.

For men

For men, indications for vaccination are based on the level of effectiveness:

• 90% to prevent warts
• 80% to prevent precancerous or cancerous lesions of the genitals, anus or throat

However, vaccine effectiveness is lower in people who are already infected when they are vaccinated.

Recent research suggests that the vaccine may, however, prevent the recurrence of anal lesions in men under 26 years of age who are already infected with one of the HPV types targeted by the vaccine at the time of vaccination. There are no data for men over 26 years of age.

Where does cancer come from?

There are several theories about the causes of cancer: exposure to carcinogenic substances, the influence of certain viruses, and hereditary predisposition.

The outstanding Russian scientist L.A. Zilber, who already in 1935 formulated the principles of virology and immunology of cancer, is deservedly considered one of the discoverers of the role of viruses in the development of cancer. In subsequent years, foreign and domestic scientists confirmed the important role of viruses in the process of carcinogenesis.

A more detailed study of the role of viruses in the development of cancer at the end of the 20th century. marked the beginning of the development of vaccines against cancer. The invention and mass use of a vaccine for the prevention of hepatitis B is generally recognized as the first success in this area. In addition to preventing the infectious disease itself, vaccination prevents cirrhosis and primary liver cancer. Over 30 years of vaccination, including the mass use of this vaccine since 1997, hundreds of thousands of human lives have been saved and extended in Russia.

The second significant success of scientists was the discovery of the connection between the human papillomavirus (HPV) and the development of cervical cancer (CC). For the discovery of this connection, Harold zur Hausen received the Nobel Prize in 2008. Later, the role of HPV in the development of cancer of a number of other organs was revealed.

Contraindications

You should NOT get vaccinated if:

• have hypersensitivity to yeast or to any of the components of the vaccine;
• there is a moderate or severe acute infectious disease (you should wait until the end of the acute period of the disease);
• have a bleeding disorder or are taking medications that thin the blood;

Fever or feeling unwell during a scheduled vaccination is a reason for additional consultation with your doctor.

Is it possible to get vaccinated during pregnancy?

Vaccination against HPV is not recommended during pregnancy, as there is not yet sufficient data on the possible side effects of HPV vaccines in pregnant women and their unborn children.

However, data were analyzed on 2802 women from the United States, Canada and France. These women received the HPV vaccine during pregnancy without knowing they were pregnant. The analysis did not show any association between HPV vaccination and pregnancy complications or birth defects.

Another analysis of data from 92,000 pregnancies conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in June 2021 also confirms that there is no link between the HPV vaccine and complications for pregnant women or the fetus.

Contraindications for vaccination

The developed anti-cancer drugs have a number of contraindications that must be taken into account before vaccination. The doctor carefully studies the patient’s medical history and medical indications - this will help eliminate unpleasant consequences.

Protein compounds are contraindicated in specific cases:

• there is individual intolerance to individual components of the drug;
• an acute allergic reaction was recorded during the first injection;
• chronic diseases have been diagnosed that cause an increase in body temperature by several parameters;
• there are blood clotting disorders;
• HIV infection was detected;
• you are planning to conceive a child in the near future or are already pregnant.

Before the first injection, an extensive examination is prescribed. This will identify possible contraindications and prevent complications. Do not overcool before administering the product. It is recommended to avoid large crowds of people, because... there is a high risk of infection with viral diseases. You need to adjust your routine - sleep at least 8 hours, follow dietary patterns and avoid stressful situations. It is recommended to enrich the diet with vegetables, fruits, lean meat and fish. Drinks you should choose are green tea and mineral water.

Input rules

The vaccines are injected into the shoulder muscle in two or three (depending on the specific regimen) doses. Injection into the buttock is not recommended because this may cause the vaccine to enter fatty tissue, which may reduce its effectiveness.

Should vaccination initiated by one of the vaccines be completed with the same vaccine?

European Experts believe that for people under 18 years of age (!), two doses of different HPV vaccines (one dose of Gardasil 9® + one dose of Cervarix®) will give the best immune response.

Based on various studies, experts believe that these two vaccines will produce a stronger immune response to HPV types 16 and 18 than two doses of Gardasil 9®. HPV 16 is responsible for most HPV-related cancers, especially cancers affecting men. However, this vaccination option provides sufficient immunity against the seven other types of HPV that Gardasil 9 targets.

Correct drug administration regimen

There are three vaccines against HPV.

For boys and girls under 14 years of age, two injections will be required, depending on the vaccine used.

For young women and men who have or have had sex with men, three injections are required up to age 26.

Scheme 11-14

Vaccination schedule for young women or men who have sex with other men

Is vaccination against HPV effective?

Vaccines against HPV infection have been used in many countries around the world since 2006-2007. (79 countries use them in 2021). Because of this, there is reliable data demonstrating the effectiveness of vaccines against precancerous lesions, reducing HPV infections and condylomas (also called genital warts) compared to the situation before vaccination.

Also, based on the data accumulated over the years for three vaccines, it can be stated that the level of protection is from 70 to 90% of cases of cervical cancer.

In women who have never been infected with HPV, Gardasil 9® prevents almost 100% of cervical cancers caused by the HPV types covered by the vaccine.

Gardasil 9 also prevents:

• 78% of anal cancers in men are caused by the two main types of HPV;
• 90% to 100% of cases of genital warts in men and women are caused by the respective types of HPV;

A large Australian study also found that the number of people infected with HPV, which causes cervical cancer, has decreased thanks to vaccination. The decline was from 22.7% in 2005–2007 to 1.5% in 2015 among young women aged 18–24 years.

These results led the International Papilloma Virus Society (IpVS) to say that high HPV vaccination coverage, combined with widespread participation in screening and modern treatments, will eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem.

Similarly, in Sweden, a 75% reduction in precancerous lesions was observed in girls vaccinated before age 17 compared with other young women.

More than 20 countries, including Australia, the United States, Italy, Canada, Norway and Argentina, have recommended expanding vaccination to boys, especially for epidemiological and equity reasons.

The girls' lives are at risk. Campaign against HPV vaccination could lead to tragedies

04.06.2020

The sun sets over the historic city of Dijon in eastern France. A group of people wander aimlessly, cocktails in hand, through the backyard of a convention center on the outskirts of the city. They came to the annual meeting of the Liberté Information Santé association, which advocates the so-called medical freedom, in other words, the right to refuse vaccination. This year, on the agenda is a vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is given to girls during puberty to protect them from cervical cancer, the main consequence of this virus.

Human papillomavirus is one of the most common sexually transmitted viruses. There are more than a hundred types of the virus, but only four of them cause cancer, most often cervical cancer. Condoms and other forms of contraception cannot completely protect against the virus. Preventive vaccination is by far the most effective way of protection.

They are virgins being sacrificed,” meeting organizer Robert Leadon tells me. The favorite arguments of vaccination deniers are either to portray girls as victims of cynical pharmacists, or to say that this vaccine corrupts girls. Similar techniques are used by many activists in the movement, from conservative Christians to secular activists such as Lydon.

Some people mistakenly believe that vaccination threatens mental and physical health, while others adhere to the conspiracy theory that this vaccination is a conspiracy to control the population.

On the second evening in Dijon, when the rest of the conference participants had gone to a more expensive establishment nearby, I stayed in the dining room and met a thirty-year-old woman who was also dining alone.

Celeste Bonnard (the woman asked that her real name not be disclosed because it might harm her family) is eight months pregnant. Bonnard is saving all the money for the birth of her first child - she will have a girl. Bonnard is confident that she will not give her child any vaccinations.

Why is this necessary? “It’s poison,” Bonnard says. — The planet’s population is almost eight billion people. At the beginning of the 19th century there were only one billion. I think vaccination was invented to reduce the population.

For anti-vaccination people, the world is an unfriendly and dangerous place. Bonnard spends his days reading immunization conspiracy theories on Facebook. But when her daughter is born, she will have to change her usual routine.

Allowing unvaccinated children to go to school could lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases. At risk are schoolchildren with weak immunity and allergies, for whom vaccinations are contraindicated. In 2021, Agnès Buzin, France's then health minister, introduced a new policy: no vaccinations, no access to public education.

Unless Bonnard changes her position, her child will face years of homeschooling. And the woman herself will most likely have to quit her regular job and ask for state child benefits, as a single mother.

“I don’t want my girl to stop smiling or be paralyzed,” Bonner tells me. — I will never give my child a single vaccination. I don't trust our government anymore.

Bonnard stops and asks: What do you think about vaccination? .

Mass hysteria

I was a teenager when compulsory HPV vaccination began in the UK in 2008. I was one of the first to be vaccinated. But they didn’t do it to my older sister, who had dropped out of school by that time - she was already too old. Two years ago, during a routine cytological examination, she was diagnosed with a precancerous lesion of the cervix. Without treatment, it can develop into cancer.

I remember that after the doctor said the word cancer, I didn’t hear anything else,” my sister recently told me.

Cervical surgery is performed under general anesthesia. According to my sister’s recollections, even without complications it is very painful and scary. If she had been born two years earlier, she would have been vaccinated - and this could have been avoided.

HPV vaccination has been successful in high-income countries such as Australia and the UK, and precancerous cervical lesions in young girls have dropped significantly there as a result. In 2021, the largest medical journal, the Lancet, conducted a study involving 66 million young people. Scientists have found that the HPV vaccine protects even those who don't get the vaccine because the virus still spreads more slowly.

Now many countries vaccinate not only girls, but also boys. Scientists hope that in the coming years this will reduce the incidence of various types of cancer that are caused by HPV - cervix, penis, head and neck.

But in other countries, religion and excessive moralizing are preventing HPV vaccination from spreading as quickly. In Colombia, for example, where girls are not taught the importance of regular gynecological check-ups, cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women. In 2012, the vaccine was finally rolled out widely and 95% of teenage girls were vaccinated.

Carlos Castro, director of the Colombian League Against Cancer, had to fight for a long time. Castro told me that when the program started, he believed Colombia finally had a chance to reduce deaths from cervical cancer.

But then the nightmare began,” recalls Castro.

In May 2014, in the small village of Carmen de Bolivar in the north of the country, several girls began to faint for no reason, which even doctors could not explain. Someone remembered that all these girls were vaccinated against HPV last year - and local residents immediately associated the fainting with vaccination, and journalists picked up this idea. Film crews began arriving in Carmen de Bolívar, and local politicians decided to seize the moment to advance their own interests.

I think they thought this was a great opportunity to blame the government for everything,” says Castro.

Conservatives, such as the political movement Catholics for Colombia, began to condemn vaccination. They argued that vaccinations corrupted young girls and pushed them into sexual promiscuity.

The effect was devastating: hundreds of other girls began to faint, and Castro watched in horror as vaccination rates dropped to 5%. He recalls that lawyers and anti-vaxxers rushed to the village, inviting the girls' families to sue the government and pharmaceutical companies with their support.

In just a few weeks, more than 500 girls began fainting, says Castro.

Doctors later explained this as a phenomenon of mass hysteria.

A similar story happened in Japan, where mandatory HPV vaccination was introduced in April 2013. Following the successful launch of vaccinations, the country was hit by mass hysteria, just like in Colombia. The girls complained of uncontrolled movements, muscle weakness, and increased sensitivity to light. Widespread media coverage has forced the government to stop promoting vaccination. As a result, less than 1% of girls received the vaccine.

An investigation by the Japanese Ministry of Health showed that the symptoms the girls described were in no way related to the vaccination, but it was too late. The World Health Organization also confirmed there was no link between the shot and the girls' symptoms and called on Japan to once again support the use of the vaccine. According to a study published in February in the journal Lancet, if the Japanese government does not change its decision, almost 11,000 women in the country will die from cervical cancer over the next 50 years.

In Russia, according to oncologist-epidemiologist Anton Barchuk, cervical cancer is also the main cause of death among all women with cancer aged 25 to 40 years. More than 6,000 women die from this type of cancer every year in the country.

Adolescents can be vaccinated against HPV free of charge only in 27 Russian regions. And although the Ministry of Health has stated this more than once, the HPV vaccine has not yet been added to the national vaccination calendar.

In total, in the country for 2021, according to the chief freelance pediatric specialist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for preventive medicine, Leila Namazova-Baranova, vaccination covers 160 thousand adolescents, and this is only a few percent of the target group. According to her, to achieve a visible effect, the coverage should be 90%.

In Moscow, for example, according to the capital’s Ministry of Health, 113,500 HPV vaccines will be purchased in 2021 - twice as much as last year. Teenagers can now get a free vaccination not only at the clinic, but also at the school doctor.

In the first 9 months of this year, almost 16,000 girls received their first vaccination against HPV,” the website says.

But among Russian vaccination deniers there are those who are against vaccinations. Some say the vaccine itself causes cervical cancer, while others warn that the vaccine causes infertility and autism. Posts about girls becoming paralyzed after being vaccinated against HPV appear in public pages on social networks, and the media write about supposedly confirmed complications after vaccination.

Those who advocate vaccination are accused of receiving money for it and collaborating with the pharmaceutical lobby. As in other countries, conservative religious communities are the most active against vaccination.

How much money will our country give for an experiment on our children, for the future sick generation? Before it’s too late, we need to stop this experiment with the Gardasil vaccine in every possible way, so that later, when victims from this vaccine appear in our country, when it’s already too late, we won’t be indignant: what have we done! , wrote in 2011 on the Russian People's Line portal Irina Sazonova, who calls herself a doctor, a member of the Moscow Union of Journalists and an expert of the Central Council of the All-Russian Social Movement All-Russian Parents' Assembly in defense of the rights of parents and children. In addition, Sazonova is also known as an HIV dissident.

This and other false ideas about HPV vaccination are supported not only by anti-vaxxers, but also by some politicians. For example, at the end of 2013, the former head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko, on the TV channel TVC, called HPV vaccines a human trial.

According to the Russian Association of Oncologists, about 528 thousand new patients with cervical cancer are registered annually in the world. Every year more than 265 thousand women die due to this disease. In Russia, about 15 thousand people fall ill with cervical cancer every year. According to Anton Barchuk, if in 1993 10 thousand cervical cancers were detected per year, then, according to our forecasts, in 2030 this figure will be 20-22 thousand. And about 10 thousand will die a year. No cancer disease has such dynamics among relatively young people under 50 years of age.

Scientific disaster

In France, the anti-vaccine movement is more popular than in other countries. According to a 2021 study, one in three French people believes that vaccination is unsafe.

But similar misconceptions are common in other European countries, as well as in the United States, where anti-vaxxers have all but destroyed decades of scientific work. In 2000, after victory over measles was declared in the United States, the American Center for Disease Control recorded the highest number of people infected with this virus in 25 years. At the same time, several European countries were also affected by measles. Worldwide, 140,000 people died from the disease in 2021, mostly infants and young children.

Lydon, from Dijon, said people began to take particular interest in his movement after French President Emmanuel Macron passed a new law in 2021 requiring all children born after his announcement to receive 11 essential vaccinations.

HPV vaccination is more of a recommendation, which may be why there is such a small number of vaccinated people in France: in 2021, only 19% of sixteen-year-old girls were vaccinated against HPV. Experts believe the low rate is the result of misinformation spread by vaccine deniers.

At the opening of the conference where I came, the British documentary film Sacrificial Virgins was shown. The Greeks sacrificed young girls to appease the gods. The Incas, who inhabited Peru, buried girls at the very edge of their empire, said the voiceover. Then two girls appeared on the screen. The author claimed that they became paralyzed after receiving the HPV vaccine.

Surgical oncologist David Gorsky of the Barbara Anna Karmanos Cancer Institute in Michigan has spent his entire career fighting pseudoscience. He studied several complaints from parents of paralyzed girls and tried to convince them that this had nothing to do with vaccinations. But it turned out to be difficult.

There is no evidence that vaccination leads to such consequences, says Gorsky. He adds that vaccine deniers exploit such stories to their advantage. Every time a girl dies suddenly a few months after getting an HPV vaccine, they try to attribute it to the vaccine, he said.

A person cannot survive such a tragedy without finding any explanation for it. Even if this explanation is false, it gives parents a reason to move on, says Gorsky. “It’s terrible because parents blame themselves for the death of their child because they allowed them to get vaccinated.”

Crippled by vaccination

Rumors of helpless virgins being exploited by pharmaceutical companies began to spread long before the HPV vaccine hit the market.

The HPV vaccine could be a serious problem because for young girls it amounts to permission to have sex before marriage, Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council told New Scientist in 2005.

In 2010, Ireland launched a national HPV vaccination program. Religious leaders immediately came out with a statement that this would encourage girls to have more sexual relations. In 2015, the organization Regret appeared. Its participants claimed that young Irish women were crippled by the vaccine - a favorite phrase of anti-vaxxers who believe that the vaccine is the cause of their children's chronic illnesses.

Regret nevertheless admitted that they had no evidence of this. But for some Irish politicians, such as Minister Finan McGrath, it was still a reason to launch a campaign against HPV vaccination. In 2021, the number of people getting vaccinated fell from 90% to 50%. A year later, McGart finally announced that he was mistaken.

“I screwed up,” the minister said and offered unconditional support for the distribution of the vaccine.

In 2021, Roman Catholic Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan told the Irish Times: I often think that the huge amount of money that is spent on this vaccination could be used on programs that promote purity and chastity among young people.

Promoting vaccinations has no effect on how much sex teens have, according to a 2021 Harvard study. Yet sexual promiscuity remains the most persuasive argument used by vaccine deniers.

Irish cancer researcher Robert Grims from the University of Oxford has been advocating vaccination in Ireland for the past five years. He describes those who oppose him in this as very religious and emotional people.

One day these people found out where I lived and I had to call the police. They are ready for a lot,” recalls Grims.

For Grims, achieving mass HPV vaccination is a personal duty. Last March, his close friend and colleague Laura Brennan died of cervical cancer. She was 26 years old. She has always been a very vocal advocate of the HPV vaccination campaign.

When the vaccine arrived in Irish schools, Brennan was too old to take it. In a joint speech with Irish Health Minister Simon Harris in September 2021, Brennan recalled this and said: The HPV vaccine saves lives. She could have saved mine, but it’s too late, but it’s not too late to save yours.

Brennan continued to receive angry messages from anti-vaxxers, even despite her illness. They accused the girl of brainwashing everyone, and that she was to blame for her illness - she had an overly active sex life.

They would be ashamed. You got what you deserve. This is God’s punishment,” they wrote to her in one of the messages.

In February, Ireland said it would vaccinate 80% of its population by 2021. In County Clare, where Brennan was born, the rate rose to 90%. And this is her merit. But the same results are still almost impossible to achieve where anti-vaccination groups, under the guise of concern for the chastity of young people, are waging their campaign against the vaccine.

I will always be in her debt,” Grims says of Brennan. “But I would prefer that no one find out about her this way.” Our goal is to ensure that no one dies from these types of cancer, because they are preventable.

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Vaccination against coronavirus has begun in Crimea

“Vaccination begins today in Crimea. First of all, high-risk medical workers who work with patients with a new coronavirus infection will be vaccinated. In the future, the daily number of vaccinated people will depend on the volume of vaccine received,” wrote the head of the republic, Sergei Aksenov, on his page on the VKontakte social network.

Cases of dangerous measles continue to be recorded in the Volgograd region

In the Volgograd region in 2021, measles was laboratory confirmed. This was reported by the regional department of Rospotrebnadzor. It is known that a dangerous disease manifests itself in those who have not been vaccinated. This year, 1 case of measles was confirmed in the region.

Scientists will combine the Oxford vaccine with Sputnik V

Scientists from the University of Oxford and the Russian Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Epidemiology will join forces to work on a vaccine for COVID-19. They agreed to conduct clinical trials of a combination of two drugs - the British vaccine and one of the two components of the Russian Sputnik V, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Swedish-British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca reported.

Possible side effects

Some symptoms may be caused by the vaccine, such as redness at the injection site. Other problems may occur randomly and have no connection with the vaccine, for example, colds, gastrointestinal diseases, headaches.

Vaccines against human papillomavirus are safe. Most symptoms or reactions are benign and do not last long.

Cervarix ® causes slightly more pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site than Gardasil ® 9.

Allergic reactions are extremely rare - 1 in 450,000 vaccinated people - but they are possible with vaccination.

To date, more than 270 million doses of HPV vaccines have been administered worldwide. Current scientific evidence suggests there are no serious or unexpected problems with these vaccines. No link has been found between this vaccine and any serious illness or death.

What you should know

There are many publications in the press regarding the safety of HPV vaccinations in terms of the development of autoimmune diseases.

Various studies conducted by official institutions independent of pharmaceutical companies compared the incidence of autoimmune diseases in millions of vaccinated and unvaccinated women in the United States, Denmark, and Sweden. In France, ANSM and the health insurance service also conducted a national study involving 2.2 million girls aged 13 to 16 years.

All of these studies showed no increase in the risk of autoimmune diseases associated with vaccination.

However, the increased risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome after HPV vaccination should probably be considered. Although it was identified only by the results of one study.

Where is vaccination carried out?

Vaccination against cervical cancer was introduced into the vaccination calendar several years ago; not everyone knows where they take the course. The production of protein compounds is foreign, which explains the high cost. Russian analogues to existing drugs have not yet been developed.

It is possible to undergo a vaccination course in a antenatal clinic or a gynecological clinic with the substance in stock. A preliminary examination to detect HPV is also carried out here. The woman is scheduled for examination by a gynecologist using a gynecological speculum, a colposcopy procedure, and a smear is taken for cytological examination. After receiving the test results, the doctor decides on the timing of the introduction of protein compounds.

Vaccinations are given in public clinics and private clinics. There is a difference in pricing. In private institutions, the cost is usually higher than in public institutions. You can get vaccinated at a vaccination center or immunological department of a clinic. Each institution uses the substance from trusted suppliers who comply with basic storage rules and deadlines.

Some medical institutions offer a service - vaccination at home. After receiving the application, the doctor goes to the woman’s home. A preliminary examination of the patient is carried out, a detailed history of all diseases and suspicious symptoms is collected. Then the substance is injected. The doctor stays next to the woman after the injection for 30-40 minutes. This is required to control the body's response to protein compounds.

Many women are satisfied with this service: they do not need to waste time traveling and contacting a large number of people, which risks contracting a dangerous disease. The doctor also pays special attention to his only patient.

Infertility as a possible complication of vaccination

Recently, anti-vaxxer activists have expressed concern that cervical cancer vaccination causes primary ovarian failure and, consequently, infertility.

On what basis such an assumption arose remains a mystery. HPV does not infect the ovaries. And the surface protein L1 of HPV does not mimic proteins on ovarian cells, making an autoimmune disease biologically implausible. However, fear is constantly fueled by anti-vaxxers.

To address this problem, researchers from the United States (Kaiser Permanente) studied 199,078 women, 120 of whom were diagnosed with primary ovarian failure. Researchers did not find a statistically significant increase in the risk of developing ovarian failure after receiving the human papillomavirus vaccine. They also found no increased risk of this complication after receiving Tdap, MenACWY, or inactivated influenza vaccines.

To the credit of the scientific and medical community, millions of dollars have been spent on research into the safety of the human papillomavirus vaccine. Since being licensed, more than 1 million people have been formally studied, studying all manner of chronic pain and fatigue syndromes, as well as more than a dozen different rheumatological diseases.

Today, the HPV vaccine is probably the most studied in the world. And its safety has been confirmed by more than 12 years of use.

Possible complications

In relation to post-vaccination consequences, both drugs are similar. After administration of the vaccine, side effects may occur in any case, including:

• pain, itching, redness, swelling, formation of infiltration and hematomas at the injection site;
• throbbing headaches;
• pain in the abdominal area;
• rise in body temperature to 38 degrees;
• allergic reactions (from urticaria to anaphylactic shock) to some components of the vaccine;
• general signs of illness, which include dizziness, aching joints, loss of appetite, weakness, chills.

Most of the above symptoms do not require treatment and disappear on their own a couple of days after vaccination.

Dangerous complications leading to death are very rare. Statistics show that out of 10 thousand immunized women, one patient dies due to the fault of Cervarix and Gardasil, in whom no concomitant diseases were detected in the acute stage before vaccination.

You can find information that the HPV vaccine causes infertility, but such facts have not been registered.

Vaccine cost in Belgium

The price of vaccination may vary depending on the fixed cost established for a specific time period (prices for many vaccines in Belgium are regulated by the state).

The public price of the Cervarix vaccine in Belgium at the end of 2019 is 69.14 € per dose, and the public price for Gardasil 9 is 134.84 € per dose.

And the total price of a vaccination course for persons receiving the first dose after 14 years of age will be

• for Cervarix - 3 doses x 69.14 €, total: 207.42 € in total;
• for Gardasil 9 - 3 doses x 134.84 €, Total: 404.52 €.

What to do if the next vaccination date is missed?

The minimum acceptable interval between the first and second doses of the vaccine is 4 weeks, the minimum interval between the second and third doses is 12 weeks. Therefore, an accelerated vaccination schedule is sometimes allowed. If the vaccine schedule is interrupted, there is no need to start the entire series over. If vaccination is interrupted after the first dose, the second dose should be given as soon as possible and separated from the third dose by at least 12 weeks. If only the third dose is delayed, it should be given as quickly as possible. If the interval between vaccinations is violated, the vaccination course is considered completed if three doses are administered within 1 year.