Single HPV shot enough for young women: WHO experts

GENEVA: A single vaccine shot against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, delivers comparable protection for girls and women under 21 as two doses, the WHO’s immunisation experts said.

"This could be a game-changer for the prevention of the disease, seeing more doses of the life-saving jab reach more girls," the World Health Organisation said. More than 95 percent of cervical cancer is caused by sexually-transmitted HPV, which is the fourth most common type of cancer in women globally. Almost entirely preventable, the disease is often referred to as the "silent killer".

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) evaluated new evidence that single-dose schedules provide comparable efficacy to two- or three-dose regimens. They concluded that one shot delivers solid protection against HPV.