Human papillomavirus vaccines: WHO position paper, May 2017–Recommendations

This article presents the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations on the use of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines excerpted from the WHO position paper on Human papillomavirus vaccines: WHO position paper, May 2017, published in the Weekly Epidemiological Record [1]. This position paper replaces the 2014 WHO position paper on HPV vaccines [2].The position paper focuses primarily on the prevention of cervical cancer, but also considers the broader spectrum of cancers and other diseases preventable by HPV vaccination. It incorporates recent developments concerning HPV vaccines, including the licensure of a nonavalent (9-valent) vaccine and recent data on vaccine effectiveness, and provides guidance on the choice of vaccine. New recommendations are proposed regarding vaccination strategies targeting girls only or both girls and boys, and vaccination of multiple birth cohorts [3].Footnotes to this paper provide a number of core references including references to grading tables that assess the quality of the scientific evidence, and to the evidence-to-recommendation table. In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of vaccines against diseases that have an international public health impact. These papers are concerned primarily with the use of vaccines in large-scale immunization programmes; they summarize essential background information on diseases and vaccines, and conclude with WHO's current position on the use of vaccines in the global context. Recommendations on the use of HPV vaccines were discussed by SAGE in October 2016; evidence presented at these meetings can be accessed at: www.who.int/immunization/sage/meetings/2016/october/presentations_background_docs/en/.