The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reacted on Monday against “rumors” that call into question the vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, and insisted that it is effective and safe.
IARC, dependent on the World Health Organization (WHO), stressed that the vaccine is also essential to end the possible increase in the number of these types of cancers, the fourth most frequent for women in the world, with 570,000 new cases diagnosed in 2018.
In regards to this, they warned that if preventive measures are not applied quickly, from the 310,000 women who die each year from this disease, it will increase to almost 460,000 roughly for the year 2040 and the largest increase would occur in the low to medium income countries.
The director of the agency, Elisabete Weiderpass, said in a statement that
“unfounded rumours about HPV vaccines continue to unnecessarily delay or impede the scaling up of the vaccination, which is so urgently needed to prevent cervical cancer.”
These arguments have led authorities in some countries to temporarily suspend or delay vaccination campaigns.
The IARC emphasized that after the investigation from the deaths of some girls in India who had received the vaccines and who set off the alarms, it has become clear that the deaths had nothing to do with the doses of antibodies, but with other reasons totally oblivious.
In addition, the head of the prevention and early detection section, Rolando Herrero, told Efe that “it is well demonstrated” that this vaccination “does not change at all the sexual behavior” from girls, contrary to what some campaigns have argued.
Rolando also recalled that the studies from the cases of certain girls who would faint in the community of Carmen de Bolívar, in Colombia, showed that it “had nothing to do” with the vaccines.
Although it is still too early to directly link a decline in cancer cases with vaccination because of the recent campaigns, he noted that it has already had an effect on the prevention of precursor lesions, such as warts.
In countries like Australia, he said, those warts have diminished even in men, due to less sexual transmission.
The position that the IARC has taken is to support the recommendations of the WHO expert group that reviews the contribution of the vaccine for the elimination of this type of cancer, which would, among other things, immunize at least 90% of the girls.
Around 85 countries in the world carry out this vaccination, but many with low income have not begun to do so because of the high costs and the necessary logistics. In the populations where the programs have been launched, the percentages of vaccinated girls vary from 20 to 80%. So far, more than 200 million doses have been distributed.
