In this article published April 25, 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that they are revising the recommended cervical cancer vaccination schedule, moving the first dose from March to October 2019.
The changes come after a series of studies found that the HPV vaccine (a type of vaccine developed in the United States) is less effective against cervical cancer than the flu vaccine (which is developed in France).
The decision to move the HPV vaccination schedule will mean that people who have already received their first dose of the vaccine may not be able to receive another dose until 2021.
Before the schedule change, the CDC recommended the HPV vaccines for people ages 12 to 49 in the following order: Cervarix, Gardasil, Mirena, Polio-B, and Coeliac (all licensed in the U.S.).
Before the HPV schedule change (March 2019), people ages 50 to 64 were recommended to receive the following vaccines: CDP-9, Cervaserix, M-7, and Cervasor.
The HPV vaccination schedules have changed again, and now the CDC recommends that people ages 18 to 49 receive the HPV 6-11 vaccine and those age 50 to 59 receive the Cervastatin vaccine.
The CDC also recommends that all adults age 18 to 59 get the HPV 5 vaccine.
This is a change that is not expected to make a significant difference to the overall number of people who are eligible to receive a vaccine, but it is a significant improvement.
This year’s vaccine schedule changes are expected to be rolled out across the United Kingdom and the U-Korea in 2019.