Review of Existing Evidence on Single-Dose HPV Vaccination
The Single-Dose HPV Vaccine Evaluation Consortium, coordinated by PATH, presents an overview on the existing evidence on single-dose HPV vaccines. Since 2018, the Consortium has gathered and evaluated data from clinical trials, observational studies, and modeling analyses regarding the value of a single-dose HPV vaccination schedule to protect against cervical cancer. The evidence compiled so far is available in a paper published in May 2022; a fifth edition of this paper with assessments on newly published studies be available later in 2023.
HPV causes almost all cases of cervical cancer, and the burden is disproportionate: approximately 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Additionally, worldwide vaccine coverage in girls under 15 years of age is only about 13%. Studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of a single dose regiment of the HPV vaccine. In their analysis of these studies, the Consortium found that there is strong evidence that single-dose HPV vaccines deliver high levels of protection similar in magnitude (98% efficacy) to multidose regimens. Vaccinating girls with a single dose of HPV is cost-effective while helping increase vaccine uptake; it can help prevent more cases of cervical cancer than vaccinating fewer girls with the second dose. The Consortium supports the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsement of the single dose HPV vaccine and finds it to be a valuable opportunity to promote global health equity.
Related Resources:
- Fact Sheet: Evidence on Single-Dose HPV *Available in English & French
- Presentations on Single-Dose HPV Vaccination *Available in English & French
- 2022 Evidence Review: General Summary *Available in English, French, Chinese, Spanish, & Portuguese
- Technical Synthesis of the current published evidence for single-dose HPV vaccination *Available in English, French, Chinese, & Spanish
- Evidence Review full text