Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is already saving lives in the UK—and the scale of that success is striking.
Among young women who received the jab as schoolgirls, there have been no recorded deaths from cervical cancer in recent years. Between 2020 and 2024, no woman in England ages 20 to 24—who had been vaccinated as a teenager—died from cervical cancer.
A new study estimates that hundreds of deaths have already been prevented by the national HPV vaccination program, with many more lives likely to be saved as the vaccinated groups age. For the first time, we have country-level evidence that a vaccine given in adolescence is preventing young women from dying of cancer.
There is now more than a decade of evidence showing that HPV vaccination cuts cervical cancer risk. The UK introduced HPV vaccination for girls ages 12 to 13 in 2008, later extending it to boys, delivering doses mainly through school-based programs.
Uptake has been high, with close to 90% of girls in some age groups completing the course by their mid-teens. The vaccine targets the strains of HPV responsible for most cervical cancers, and studies have shown dramatic reductions in both invasive cancers (cancers that can spread to surrounding tissue) and advanced precancerous lesions (cell changes that can develop into cancer) in vaccinated women.
