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The Hindu Dated: February 05, 2018 By-Priyanka Pulla This needs more effort, but given the high burden of cervical cancer in India, waiting longer could be unethical The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has run into more trouble. In January, a Rome-based epidemiologist, Tom Jefferson, of the Cochrane Collaboration highlighted in a paper worrying gaps in published data on the vaccine, designed to prevent HPV-related cervical cancer. Dr. Jefferson found that only two-thirds of the clinical trials on the HPV vaccine, manufactured by Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), had been published. This is particularly important in the light of his previous findings. Last year, Dr. Jefferson and other vaccine safety experts had questioned the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) assertion that HPV vaccines are safe, after they found that the EMA had relied mainly on MSD’s and GSK’s analysis of clinical trial data to reach this conclusion. This is a problem because drug...

The Indian Express Jan 24, 2018 Amid an in-principle decision by the government against introduction of a cervical cancer vaccine in the national immunisation programme, the international organisation that was to have funded the initial rollout has stressed the safety and efficacy of the vaccine while being in no position to influence the government decision-making process. Even as the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is in the process of deliberating on the recommendation of a subcommittee in favour of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine, the health ministry has made it clear that HPV is not among its immediate priorities. The revelation by a top ministry functionary came days after the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, economic wing of the RSS, wrote to Prime Minister  Narendra Modi  against HPV in the national programme citing cost and safety concerns. The initial rollout was to have been funded by GAVI, the international vaccine alliance. “We know that im...