More girls getting HPV vaccine

In the year 2014, more girls were vaccinated against the HPV-virus according to the National Institute of Public Health (RIVM). 

The Human Papilloma Virus can lead to cervical cancer in later life. The National Vaccination Program included the HPV vaccine in 2010, which is when the number of vaccinations for the virus began to rise.

As of 1 January, 60.7 percent of girls who were born in 1999 received all three jabs against HPV. This is a rise of 0.8 percent in comparison with the group of girls who were born a year earlier.

The HPV requires see separate shots. For the girls who were born in 1999, 60.7 percent were vaccinated all three times per 1 January 2014. This rose from 54.9 percent in 2013. In total, 99,214 girls went in for the inoculation. Next to these girls, 2.2 percent has been vaccinated twice, and 2.3 percent once.

Over half of girls born in 2000 (56 percent) has also had the three shots. In total, these are 101,930 girls. 7.4 percent have been vaccinated twice, and 3 percent once. For this group, the figures are incomplete because they still have time to complete the series of vaccinations.

The HPV vaccination scheme has changed in 2012. Two vaccinations is now sufficient. The risk of infection drops significantly with girls who have been vaccinated according to research from Madelief Mollers, who works with the RIVM and VUmc in Amsterdam.

The time between HPV infection and the onset of cervical cancer is quite long, which means that the effect of vaccinations on the number of patients with cervical cancer only becomes visible in the long term. Promotional research therefore aims at early signs of the cancer, the prevention of infection and the presence of antibodies.