New HPV Vaccine Lowers Cervical Cancer Rate at a Lower Cost

HPV vaccine Gardasil 9 has been found to potentially reduce the cervical cancer, including the death rates related to the said disease across the US. The new vaccine is also reported to have a lower cost compared to the current ones.

The study on HPV vaccine Gardasil 9 was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science by Yale School of Public Health Dr. David Durham. The research study was aimed at examining the possible effect and the cost of switching to the new HPV vaccine, which has only been available in 2015 following the approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2014. According to reports, the researchers were able to develop a national model of the HPV cervical cancer rates and HPV transmission, giving much consideration to the state-specific sexual behaviors, demographic factors, the migratory patterns and the 10 various strains of HPV.

HPV vaccine Gardasil 9, according to the gathered data, can help in lowering the incidence  of cervical cancer by 73%, including the death rate by 49% against the current vaccines' 43% mortality rate and 63% cervical cancer rate. In addition, Gardasil 9 offers protections against the nine various HPV types and the five cancer-causing types which the older vaccines are reported to give no protection against.

The study has also discovered that the improvements can be achieved at a lower cost despite the much higher per-dose price of the new vaccine, which is $13 to over $18 per dosage depending on the location. Receiving the additional health benefit by vaccines through the traditional Gardasil will, nevertheless, need an additional budget of $2.7 billion on immunization, according to  AJMC.

While the HPV vaccine Gardasil 9 has been found to be cost effective, regardless if the vaccination rates remained the same or increased, the biggest effect on health in terms of switching to the new vaccine will be shown in the areas with the lowest coverage due to the declining marginal returns of the herd immunity, Meta reported.