HPV vaccination: waiting for evidence of effectiveness.

摘要

As noted by Gary Clifford (Dec 12, p 1948), the greatest source of uncertainty about the potential effectiveness of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines remains the duration of the immune response. However, even if the most optimistic scenario of HPV vaccine effectiveness is realised, the introduction of HPV vaccines to populations not yet fully covered by screening services may compete with limited budgets for the build-out of screening services and thereby decelerate global reductions in deaths from cervical cancer by creating populations of women who will not be protected by either screening or vaccination