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HPV vaccine is safe, says cancer agency, slams 'unfounded rumours'
A paediatrician gives an HPV vaccination to a 13-year-old girl in her office at the Miller School of Medicine on September 21, 2011 in Miami, Florida. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Unless prevention is stepped up, the disease may claim as many as 460,000 lives per year by 2040.
- The UN's World Health Organization recommends vaccination of all girls, and screening and treatment for older women to reduce cancer risk.
- Some countries also recommend the shot for boys, to eliminate the virus from general circulation.
"Unfounded rumours" causing people to spurn the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was preventing the elimination of cervical cancer, which kills more than 300,000 women every year, health authorities said Monday.
To mark World Cancer Day 2019, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) issued a statement in which it "unequivocally confirms the efficacy and safety of HPV vaccination".
