Speeches

Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the (a) reduction in cases of and deaths from human pappillomavirus (HPV) as a result of the introduction of the HPV vaccine to the UK schedule in 2008, (b) number of HPV vaccinations administered in each year since that programme began and (c) cost of delivering that programme in each year since 2008.

Jane Ellison

HPV vaccination will eventually prevent hundreds of deaths due to cervical cancer every year. Public Health England (PHE) expect the major benefit of the vaccination programme, i.e. a decrease in cervical cancer, which peaks in women between 25 and 50; will be seen in some years’ time.

Table 1: Number of HPV vaccine doses given for the academic years 2008/09 to 2013/14.

Academic Year

Total doses given

2008/09 -2010/111 (routine and catch-up cohorts*)

5,319,058$

2011/122 (routine only)

784,831

2012/133 (routine only)

766,832

2013/144 (routine only)

762,038

2014/15 (routine only)

Not available

*Routine cohort are school Yr8 females (aged 12-13 years) in academic years 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11) and catch-up cohorts are females born between 1/9/1990 and 31/8/1995. $ Data for 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 are combined as these years had both routine and catch-up cohorts targeted and include some ‘mop-up’ vaccinations for eligible females receiving vaccine(s) after the academic year they first became eligible for vaccination.

Table 2. The cost of delivering the HPV programme since 2008.

Financial year

Estimated total programme costs

2008/09

£51 million

2009/10

£114 million (includes catch up campaign)

2010/11

£40 million

2011/12

£27 million (change in dosage schedule)

2012/13

£24 million

2013/14

£28.2 million

2014/15

£16.3 million (change from 3 to 2 doses)

These are the estimated full programme costs (including the cost of the vaccine) for England, inclusive of VAT.