By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD Cervarix, a vaccine that protects
cervical cancer, will be replaced by Gardasil which also
prevents up to 90 per cent of genital warts. Campaigners have
argued that the wrong vaccine Cervarix is being used in the
routine immunization programme for young girls, which is
estimated to prevent 400 deaths a year. Cervarix is cheaper than
rival Gardasil, but fails to protect against genital warts.
Surveys suggested doctors were choosing Gardasil for private
vaccination of their own daughters. Cervarix is currently
offered to girls aged 12 and 13 years to protect against strains
of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), which
causes most cases of cancer of the cervix, the neck of the womb.
Cervarix was picked by the Labour government for the first four-
year phase of the NHS programme in 2008 because it offered ‘best
overall value’ and more than five million doses have been given.
The vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, beat off its rival
Gardasil, made by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, for t