Papillomavirus: Vaccination rates are rising thanks to college campaigns, but more can be done

Much remains to be done to achieve the desired 80% vaccination coverage by 2030. However, according to data published Friday by French Public Health, France has seen a noticeable increase in the vaccination of adolescents against the papilloma virus since the start of the campaign in secondary schools, including in public health facilities. “Taking into account vaccination in secondary school as well as private practice,” vaccination coverage increased by 17 points among girls and 15 points among 12-year-old boys between the start and end of the first phase, targeting 5th graders. .

Overall in the city and college, the proportion of girls born in 2011 who have received at least one dose of the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine is “estimated to be 55%” by the end of 2023, SpF said. For boys it is 41%. “This increase is part of a trend toward increasing HPV vaccination coverage,” the health agency noted. In the last quarter of 2022, over the same period as the campaign, HPV antiviral coverage increased by 4 points among girls and boys of the same age.

“A more complete analysis, based in particular on a study conducted among parents in colleges, will allow us to assess the real increase in HPV vaccination coverage achieved as a result of the campaign,” Public Health France also clarified. It is “possible that some teenage girls scheduled for HPV vaccination in the city in the coming months could take advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated at school.”

The campaign launched in October 2023.

The target set by the Department of Health in early September 2023 was for at least 30% of Year 5 students to be vaccinated at college for this first graduating class. And preliminary official data from early February showed that only 10% of 5th grade students had received their first dose of anti-HPV.

Promised at the beginning of 2023 by Emmanuel Macron, this vaccination campaign against the human papillomavirus, which causes numerous types of cancer (cervical, vulvar, vaginal, ENT, anal, etc.), was launched in early October in all public colleges and voluntary private institutions. French public health also noted an increase in vaccination coverage among older adolescents “more than in previous years.”

Overall, “although there has been a marked increase in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage, vaccine coverage still needs to improve among young girls and especially young boys,” the agency says.