HPV vaccine to change from September 2012

The HPV vaccination programme will be changing from September 2012.

The Department of Health has announced Gardasil, supplied by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, will be the vaccine used in the next school year.

Professor David Salisbury, the Government’s Director of Immunisation, said:“It’s not unusual for the NHS to change vaccines or other medicines – it can happen following competitive tendering exercises or when new research findings come to light.

“Young women and girls who have already been vaccinated or who are due to be vaccinated before September, do not need to be vaccinated again. They have done exactly the right thing and they can be assured that they are protected against types of HPV virus that cause over 70 per cent of cervical cancer.”

The vaccine protects against two different types of the virus, responsible for more than 70 per cent of cervical cancer in England and two types of HPV virus that causes 90 per cent of genital warts.

The HPV vaccine programme originally launched in September 2008.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended that the HPV vaccine should be offered routinely to girls aged 12 to 13 years.