Vaccination against Papillomavirus on the rise since the middle school campaign but still needs to be improved

La vaccination des adolescents contre le papillomavirus a connu une augmentation notable en France depuis le démarrage de la campagne au collège. Damien MEYER/AFP

La couverture vaccinale contre le papillomavirus a progressé de 17 points chez les filles et de 15 points chez les garçons de 12 ans depuis le début de la campagne dans les collèges.

Vaccination of adolescents against the papillomavirus has seen a notable increase in France since the start of the campaign in middle schools, including in community medicine, but still needs to be improved, according to data published Friday by Public Health France.

Vaccination coverage has increased

"Taking into account vaccinations in college as well as in private practice", vaccination coverage has increased 17 points for girls and 15 points for 12-year-old boys, between the start and end of the first phase targeting 5th grade students.

Overall, in towns and colleges, the proportion of girls born in 2011 having received at least one dose of anti-HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine is "estimated at 55 %" at the end of 2023, SpF said. For boys, it’s 41%.

"These increases are part of an upward trend in vaccination coverage against HPV", noted the health agency. In the last quarter of 2022, over a period equivalent to that of the campaign, increases in anti-HPV coverage were 4 points among girls and boys of the same age.

"More complete analyses, based in particular on a study conducted among parents in colleges, will make it possible to estimate the real gain in coverage vaccination against HPV obtained thanks to the campaign", also specified Public Health France.

He’s not "excludes the possibility that certain adolescent girls whose HPV vaccination would have been scheduled in the city in the coming months took the opportunity to be vaccinated at college".

The objective set by the Ministry of Health at the beginning of September 2023 was at least 30% of 5th grade students vaccinated at college for this first edition. And provisional official figures, obtained at the beginning of February, showed that only 10% of 5th grade students had received a first anti-HPV dose.

Campaign launched in October 2023

Promised in early 2023 by Emmanuel Macron, this vaccination campaign against human papillomavirus, the cause of numerous cancers (cervix, vulva, vagina, ENT, anus&hellip ;), was launched at the beginning of October in all public colleges and voluntary private establishments.

Public Health France also noted an increase in vaccination coverage among older adolescents "pmore significant than in previous years".

Overall, "although notable increases in vaccination coverage for vaccination against papillomavirus (HPV) infections are observed, this vaccination coverage still deserves improvement ;be improved in young girls and especially in young boys", according to the agency. The objective is to reach 80% by 2030.