The most effective way to prevent cervical cancer (with HPV screening), the vaccination against human papillomavirus infections (HPV) experienced a slight “improvement” in 2021, according to the weekly epidemiological bulletin of Public Health France, published on November 29, 2022. It nevertheless remains at moderate levels, “especially in the less economically favored populations”.
According to Santé Publique France, the vaccination coverage of young women aged 15 to 18 is estimated at 43.6%. An increase since 2018, since previous data estimated the proportion of adolescent girls vaccinated at 29.4% during this period. However, this percentage remains far from the 60% set by the government as part of its 2014-2019 cancer plan. France’s vaccination coverage against HPV infections “is among the lowest vaccination coverage in Europe, while this coverage is over 70%, particularly in Finland, Hungary, Malta, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom and Sweden.says the SPF bulletin.
But this vaccination coverage above all points out certain inequalities, especially at the territorial level. Vaccination coverage is indeed particularly low in overseas territories: 13.8% in Guadeloupe, 17.2% in Martinique, 22.6% in Guyana and 24.0% in Reunion.
THE social criteria can also affect vaccination: for example, the vaccination coverage of young girls with one of the two parents is unemployed (or both) is “particularly weak“, indicates SPF. In Metropolitan France, 13% of parents have never even heard of vaccination against HPV, an even higher percentage in Overseas France.
Why do parents not vaccinate their daughters?
Fear of side effects, fear of the vaccine… Parents sometimes voluntarily decide not to have their teenager vaccinated. In some cases, it is even the doctor who would not have offered the vaccine, or would have advised the patient against it.
It is however recommended for girls since 2007 and in boys of the same age since 2021, vaccination coverage that the study does not examine. Its effectiveness is widely proven. “The organization of vaccination by school medicine could make it possible to increase vaccination coverage” as in other countries, says SPF.
“These results call for strengthening vaccination promotion actions, particularly among these populations, with a view to reducing health inequalities., terminates SPF. In France, 6,400 cancers are attributable to HPV each year, the most frequent being cancers of the cervix in women, as well as cancer of the anus and cancers of the ENT sphere which can affect both men and women.
Source :
- Weekly epidemiological bulletin, Public Health France, November 29, 2022
