WHO approves fourth vaccine against human papillomavirus

World Health Organization (WHO) included Cecolin vaccine in the list of vaccinations against human papillomabecoming the fourth to combat this virus, which causes the majority of cases of cervical cancer that occur in the world every year.

The health agency announced in a statement released this Friday that the newly approved vaccine “meets the criteria set by WHO regarding the unauthorized alternative use of viral vaccines in single-dose regimens.”

Approval of this vaccine will protect more girls and women from cervical cancer, and human papillomavirus is responsible for more than 95 percent of the 660,000 cancer cases that occur worldwide each year.

“By adding another option to the single-dose human papillomavirus vaccine regimen, we have taken another step towards making cervical cancer a thing of history,” said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

He also stressed the need to “address the painful inequalities” of this “preventable” disease, which kills a woman every two minutes. 90 percent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and 19 of the 20 worst-affected countries are on the African continent.

In 2024, countries and WHO partners have pledged to raise almost $600 million (just over €546 million) to eliminate this type of cancer. To the same end, the UN health agency aims to vaccinate 90 percent of girls against human papillomavirus before they turn 15.

Immunization against the sexually transmitted infection has been available since 2018, but supply shortages then hampered its distribution. More and more prequalified “vaccine products” are moving from two-dose to single-dose use, according to the WHO.

In September this year, 57 countries introduced the single-dose regimen, 20 more than in 2023, meaning “at least six million additional girls have received the vaccine.”