Quote:A large, long-term study led by an Albert Einstein College of Medicine researcher has found that the introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in community settings is highly effective in protecting young women from infections caused by the cervical-cancer-causing virus—including women who didn’t even receive the vaccine. The study was published today in JAMA Pediatrics.

“There are two encouraging takeaways from our study,” said lead author Jessica Kahn, M.D., M.P.H., professor of pediatrics and the Dr. Ernest Baden Chair in Head and Neck Pathology at Einstein. “First, HPV vaccines work remarkably well in a real-world setting, even among women at high risk for HPV and who may not have received all vaccine doses. Second, we saw clear evidence of herd immunity, meaning when enough people are vaccinated, the vaccine indirectly protects unvaccinated people by reducing overall virus transmission. These results reinforce the potential of the HPV vaccine to prevent infection and, ultimately, eliminate cervical cancer globally.”