Cervical Cancer Vaccination

Vaccination Schedule: 0, 1, 6 , months

Contraindication:

• History of allergy to previous vaccination or any component of the vaccine
• Pregnant and breastfeeding

Precaution:

• Moderate-Severe illness

Can I be vaccinated if I am pregnant or breastfeeding?

• Use in pregnancy is not recommended
• It is not known whether vaccine antigens or antibodies found in the vaccine are excreted in human milk

Every Woman Deserves a Chance Against Cervical Cancer

5 Things you need to know about cervical cancer vaccination:

1. You do not need to be screened before vaccination.
   
   • While it is ideal to get screened it is not necessary since regardless of your current status, you can be vaccinated.
2. Fighting HPV infection does not protect you from re-infection
   
   • Unlike other infections that you only get once like chickenpox, HPV infection can be recurrent and acquired at any age.
   • If you’ve already fought off an HPV infection, it is possible to be infected again.
3. You can still get vaccinated even if you already have HPV
   
   • Even if you have HPV (for example HPV 18), vaccination can still protect you from cancer causing HPV 16 and provide and a degree of protection against 12 other cancer causing types of HPV. However, the vaccine is not curative so it won’t affect a present cervical condition (existing HPV infections, lesions, or cervical cancer).
4. Women 26 years old and up can still benefit from vaccination
   
   • Because HPV infection is common and can occur at any age, sexually active women may remain at risk throughout their lives. Also the older women, gets the higher risk of persistent HPV infection (one that does not go away).
5. Vaccination and regular Pap smears are you best chance of preventing cervical cancer.
   
   • Vaccination protects you from HPV 16, 18, 35 and 41, the cause of 80% of cervical cancer cases worldwide, while regular Pap smears will allow early detection of precancerous changes in the cervix.