Budget 2024: Contemplating HPV Vaccine for Cervical Cancer 's FM

Cancer vaccines will become more expensive after the government considers adding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to the national immunization program

Our government encourages vaccination of girls aged 9 to 14 to prevent cervical cancer," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the vaccine is available only in private hospitals and costs up to Rs 4,000 per dose. India's drug regulator has approved the first HPV vaccine developed in India in 2022, developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune.

India's leading immunization agency, the National Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), has recommended introducing the vaccine. The government asked NTAGI to conduct a feasibility study for the vaccine in the country in 2015—a trial of the HPV vaccine used against cervical cancer involving the anterior wall. The prosecution collapsed amid controversy in 2010 after it was discovered that some girls had died after receiving the HPV vaccine. Worldwide, breast cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, after breast cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer.

 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is the second leading cause of death among Indian women. A 2012 study published in the Indian Journal of Medical and Pediatric Oncology found that India accounts for one-third of all cancer cases in the world, with approximately 132,000 new cases diagnosed each year, mainly in the early stages.