[HPV Vaccination Program - The History and Recent Progress]

Gan To Kagaku Ryoho. 2017 Sep;44(9):713-716.
[Article in Japanese]

Abstract

Four years have passed since HPV vaccination "crisis" occurred in June 2013. In Japan,a publicly funded HPV vaccination program for adolescent females aged 12-16 years began in December 2010. However,the Japanese government withdrew its recommendation for HPV vaccination in June, 2013 because news reports on potential adverse effects of HPV vaccines without any medical evidence appeared repeatedly. The vaccination coverage among adolescent females decreased quickly from around 70%in females born between 1994 and 1999 to only 1%in females born since 2001 over the country. The suspension of recommendation for vaccination has continued to the present,though there is no scientific or epidemiologic evidence to demonstrate the causal linkage between post-vaccination symptoms and the HPV vaccines. Very recently,an ecological investigation reported that similar symptoms also occur in unvaccinated adolescents in Japan. Medical organizations in Japan are also calling for a resumption of the HPV vaccination program. Now,the resumption of the recommendation needs a political judgment.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunization Programs*
  • Papillomavirus Infections / complications
  • Papillomavirus Infections / prevention & control*
  • Papillomavirus Vaccines / adverse effects
  • Papillomavirus Vaccines / therapeutic use*
  • Uterine Neoplasms / virology

Substances

  • Papillomavirus Vaccines