How important is cervical cancer vaccine?

Cancer caused due to human papillomavirus infection is the second most leading cause of cancer in women all over the world. It also comes under the category of sexually transmitted diseases. HPV causes genital warts and invasive cervix cancer. It occurs at the reproductive age of women usually between 21 to 40 years of age.

A Cervical cancer vaccine is known to protect against 50 strains of HPV, hence preventing numerous amount of cancer-causing viruses. Protection against it also means that we prevent it from spreading as it is communicable. Even if you have one strain of HPV you can get this vaccine to prevent other strain invasions. It becomes less effective if you already have a few strains of HPV.

A Cervical cancer vaccine is known to be favourable in sexually active women as they are at increased risk of getting HPV. The only way to reduce the risk HPV other than vaccine is having a single sexual partner or having no sex at all.There are three different type of cervical cancer vaccine available and all of them are effective in reducing the risk of cervical cancer along with different type of vaginal and vulvar cancer. It is also known to prevent other virus infections such as genital warts in both sexes.

When should you not get cervical cancer vaccine?

Consult your gynaecologist before getting a cervical cancer vaccine to check whether it is effective for you or not. Other than this, your doctor may not recommend you to have vaccinated if you have allergy from any of its components.Keeping in view increasing cancer affected women across the globe, it is very important for women to go for routine checkups regularly.