CDC Report: HPV Vaccine Preventing Cervical Cancer

A new government report adds to evidence that the HPV vaccine, once called dangerous by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is preventing cervical cancer in young women.

The report comes after Kennedy pledged to give a family member any fees he might earn from HPV vaccine litigation. In a 2019 video posted on the anti-vaccine nonprofit Children’s Health Defense website, Kennedy called Gardasil “the most dangerous vaccine ever invented.”

The new report found that from 2008 to 2022, rates for precancerous lesions decreased about 80% among 20- to 24-year-old women who were screened for cervical cancer. The estimates were published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is very common and is spread through sex. Most HPV infections cause no symptoms and clear up without treatment. Others develop into cancer, about 37,000 cases a year, according to the CDC.

Women in their 20s are the group most likely to have been given the HPV vaccine, which has been recommended in the U.S. since 2006 for girls at age 11 or 12 and since 2011 for boys the same age. Catch-up shots are recommended for anyone through age 26 who hasn’t been vaccinated.

Jane Montealegre of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who was not involved in the study, called the decline dramatic and said it can be attributed to the increasing use of the safe and effective HPV vaccine.

“This should reassure parents that they’re doing the right thing in getting their children vaccinated against HPV,” said Montealegre, a cancer-prevention researcher.

Other countries also have reported declining rates of cervical precancer in younger and more vaccinated cohorts, she said. The U.S. doesn't have a national registry but estimates what's happening across the country by monitoring five sites.

Kennedy's financial relationship with litigation against the maker of the HPV vaccine came under scrutiny during his confirmation hearings. The health secretary has since told lawmakers that he has referred hundreds of clients to the law firm suing vaccine-maker Merck in an arrangement where he would be entitled to 10% of contingency fees awarded.

One of Kennedy’s sons, Conor, is an attorney at that law firm, WisnerBaum. In an amended ethics agreement, Kennedy said he will give any fees he earns from litigation over the HPV vaccine to “a nondependent adult family member.”