Abstract
Free vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) began in December, 2010, for Japanese girls aged 12–16 years and since April, 2013, the vaccine was included in the national immunisation programme. However, in June, 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare suspended proactive recommendations for the HPV vaccine after unconfirmed reports of adverse events following vaccination appeared in the media.1 In January, 2014, the Vaccine Adverse Reactions Review Committee investigating these adverse events concluded that there was no evidence to suggest a causal association between the HPV vaccine and the reported adverse events after vaccination, but they still did not reinstate proactive recommendations for its use.2 We report the resulting effects of such a decision by presenting data from Sapporo, a city of 2 million people in northern Japan.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 2571 |
Number of pages | 1 |
Journal | Lancet |
Volume | 385 |
Issue number | 9987 |
Early online date | 25 Jun 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 27 Jun 2015 |
Bibliographical note
We thank Keisuke Tamori and Julia Brotherton for their advice.SJBH is part of the executive board of the People's Campaign Against Female Cancers (PCAF) and a committee member of the Japanese Expert Board for the Eradication of Cervical Cancer. SJBH reports lecture fees from Japan Vaccine and the Japanese Expert Board for the Eradication of Cervical Cancer. PCAF and the Japanese Expert Board for the Eradication of Cervical Cancer have received funding from Japan Vaccine and Merck Sharp and Dohme. EY, YI, and RK declare no competing interests.
Keywords
- Female
- Humans
- Adolescent
- Child
- Japan
- Mass Screening/organization & administration/statistics & numerical data
- Mothers/statistics & numerical data
- Papillomavirus Vaccines/*administration & dosage/adverse effects
- Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*statistics & numerical data
- Uterine Cervical Neoplasms/prevention & control
- Vaccination/*statistics & numerical data