Benefiting Us All—Population-Level Impact of the HPV Vaccine

Worldwide in 2019, human papillomaviruses (HPV) caused approximately 620 000 new cancer cases in women and 70 000 new cancer cases in men. In unvaccinated populations before implementation of the HPV vaccine, more than 80% of sexually active people acquired HPV during their lifetime. Those at the highest risk for HPV-related cancers are people with weakened immune systems, multiple sex partners, and those who smoke tobacco. For the past 17 years, the HPV vaccine has been administered to more than 59 million women. For individuals receiving the vaccine, population-level studies have demonstrated that it has an excellent safety record and strong efficacy in the prevention of HPV infection, precancer lesions, and cervical cancer.