Papillomavirus (HPV): catch-up vaccination recommended for everyone up to 26 years old

The French National Authority for Health (HAS) recommended on Tuesday that both men and women be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) up to the age of 26, while reiterating that the priority remains vaccination for adolescents aged 11 to 14.

"Until now, the HPV catch-up vaccination was covered for heterosexual women and men up to the age of 19 and up to the age of 26 for men who have sex with men, creating unequal access to vaccination based on gender and sexual orientation," the HAS recalls in its press release.

The independent public body recommends "extending the catch-up vaccination against HPV viruses with the Gardasil 9 vaccine to young men and women, regardless of their sexual orientation, who were not vaccinated as adolescents between the ages of 11 and 14, up to the age of 26."

"A long-awaited step forward," welcomed the Minister of Health and Access to Healthcare, Yannick Neuder, who announced on X that he would "immediately implement" this recommendation.

While "vaccinating early, between the ages of 11 and 14, to eradicate cervical cancer" remains the "priority," "we must also act to leave no one behind, in a spirit of equity and efficiency in public health," he stressed, recalling France's "ambition" to achieve 80% vaccination coverage against the papillomavirus by 2030.

HPV infection is responsible for nearly 6,400 new cases of cancer each year, mainly cervical cancer, and 35,000 precancerous lesions, according to the HAS.

The anti-HPV catch-up strategy constitutes, according to her, "an additional lever for prevention, helping to reduce the circulation of HPV viruses in the general population" while vaccination coverage of adolescents aged 11 to 14 "remains insufficient".

In making its decision, the HAS relied in particular on data showing that "three-quarters of young adults" up to the age of 26 "have not yet been exposed to HPV infections, but are at high risk of acquiring and transmitting them." The peak incidence for women in France is between the ages of 20 and 24, the authority explains.

Gardasil 9, manufactured by the American laboratory MSD, can be administered during the dTcaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio) vaccine booster at age 25 and during the catch-up vaccination against invasive meningococcal infections (ACWY vaccine), now recommended between ages 15 and 24, indicates the HAS.

However, she insists that "the protection conferred by the vaccine is optimal when it is administered as early as possible" and that "vaccination should therefore not be delayed until adulthood."

In 2024, the Academy of Medicine and other learned societies, medical associations and professional unions recommended HPV vaccination for everyone up to the age of 26.