Women who get HPV vaccine may only need one smear test in lifetime, experts say

The HPV vaccine is leading to such dramatic reductions in cervical cancer that women in the UK may only need one smear test in their lives, an expert has said.

Leading cancer prevention scientist Prof Peter Sasieni said that the screening programme - which currently needs to be performed every three to five years - could soon change.

The academic director of King’s Clinical Trials Unit 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.”

Nearly all cases of cervical cancer are caused by human papillomaviruses - known as HPV - and there are more than 100 types.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women under the age of 35 in England (Getty Images/Collection Mix: Subjects RF)

As the virus is spread by close 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.

Since the early 1970s, cervical cancer mortality rates have decreased by 75% in the UK.

There are still around 850 cervical cancer deaths in the UK every year (Getty Images/EyeEm)

Over the last decade, cervical cancer mortality rates have decreased by around a sixth.

However, there are still around 850 cervical cancer deaths in the UK every year, or more than two every day.

HPV vaccine uptake has plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

And latest figures for England from NHS Digital reveal that between April 2020 and March 2021 about 30% of women aged 25-64 who were eligible were not adequately screened.

Samantha Dixon, chief executive, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, said: “It’s amazing to see how advancements in cervical cancer prevention are reducing even more cancer diagnoses.

“The focus right now must be on reducing barriers and tackling inequalities in access to vaccination and screening, this includes the ongoing impact of Covid on the uptake.

“It is only through high vaccination uptake that we will be able to change screening policy in the future.”

In the meantime women are being urged to keep up their smear test appointments.