In the United States, the prevalence of infections due to human papillomavirus has been halved thanks to vaccination. In France, vaccination coverage remains very insufficient.
In France, the vaccination targets against the papillomavirus (HPV) are far from being achieved. While in 2004, the High Committee of Public Health aimed at 95% vaccination coverage, today we are only at a rate of 30% of young girls having received the three doses of vaccine. Yet cervical cancer kills 1,000 women in France every year.
Of course, vaccination does not completely eliminate the risk of cervical cancer, but it greatly reduces it. And to improve its effectiveness, the High Council of Public Health modified, last May, its recommendations concerning the age groups for vaccination. Concretely, it is now recommended to practice it in all young girls aged 11 to 14 and no longer from 14 years old, as was the case since 2007. Catching up is also recommended for 15-19 age groups. years who have not yet been vaccinated. But, if this change in strategy does not allow the required objective to be obtained, the Transparency Committee has already indicated that it “could be led to reconsider in the medium term (within 3 years) the assessment. the actual benefit of HPV vaccines ”. However, a drop in SMR would automatically lead to a drop in health insurance coverage. Today, these HPV vaccines are covered at 65% and each dose costs around 120 euros.
Should this vaccination be called into question? The question deserves to be asked as a study by the US CDC has just shown that the prevalence of infections due to the human papillomavirus has been halved since the introduction of anti-HPV vaccines. However, the French and American vaccine coverage are similar.
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