The HPV vaccine is leading to such dramatic reductions in cervical cancer that those who receive it may only need one smear test in their lives, according to a leading cancer prevention scientist.
The academic director of King’s Clinical Trials Unit, Prof Peter Sasieni, said the screening programme – which currently needs to be performed every three to five years – could soon change due to the encouraging results from the new HPV vaccine.
He told BBC Radio 4: “This is really exciting.... [The HPV vaccine] protects against even more types of the virus, and I think with that probably one screen would be enough, maybe two, over a lifetime.”
In the meantime, Cancer Research UK is still urging people to come forward for screening.
Research suggests nearly all cases of cervical cancer are caused by human papillomaviruses – known as HPV – and there are more than 100 types.
As the virus is spread by intimate skin-to-skin contact, the vaccine is ideally given before a person becomes sexually active.
Cervical cancer develops when abnormal cells in the cervix – the neck of the womb that is connected to the vagina – grow out of control.
The disease is the second most common cancer among women under the age of 35 in England; figures from 2019 suggest two women in England die every day from the disease.
The development of vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) has prevented thousands of people from developing the disease or pre-cancers.
However, the jabs are free only in England under the universal programme for under-25s, and the vaccines do not prevent all cases of cervical cancer: even those who have had the jabs still need to go for screening when invited.
