Free dual-priced vaccination on the way

　　At this year's National People's Congress, HPV vaccination and the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer have been hotly debated by delegates, and several NPC deputies have submitted proposals for free HPV vaccination for women of the right age. Xu Ping, a delegate to the National People's Congress (NPC), suggested that the domestic bivalent HPV vaccine be included in the immunisation programme.

Cai Weiping, a delegate to the NPC, suggested that non-immunisation planned vaccines, including HPV vaccine and rabies vaccine, be included in the scope of payment by amending the social insurance law.

　　According to data published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer 2021, there will be 604,000 new cases of cervical cancer worldwide in 2020, nearly 110,000 of which will be in China.

There will be about 342,000 deaths from cervical cancer worldwide in 2020, nearly 60,000 of which will be in China. Over the past 20 years, the incidence and mortality rate of cervical cancer in China has shown a year-on-year increase and tends to be younger.

　　

The creation of the HPV vaccine puts cervical cancer on track to become the first malignancy that can be fully eradicated in humans. As of January 2020, more than 104 countries and regions worldwide have included the HPV vaccine in their national immunisation programmes.

At present, HPV vaccine is still a non-immunisation vaccine in the Mainland, and is administered on the basis of "informed consent and voluntary self-payment".

　　

In 2019, the National Health and Wellness Commission and 10 other departments jointly formulated the "Health China Action - Cancer Prevention and Control Implementation Plan (2019-2022)", which clearly states that scientific publicity on HPV vaccination should be promoted to facilitate vaccination of people of appropriate age. Accelerate the review and approval process of domestic HPV vaccines to improve the accessibility of HPV vaccines.

Promote HPV vaccine supply enterprises to set reasonable prices through price negotiation and centralized procurement, and explore multiple channels to protect vaccination of the age-appropriate population in poor areas.

　　

Since 2020, free vaccination with the domestic dual-valent HPV vaccine has been ongoing in many parts of the country, with many places such as Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Hainan already carrying out this work one after another.

　

The National Health Commission said that China will fully support the Global Strategy for Accelerating the Elimination of Cervical Cancer proposed by the World Health Organization, which specifies that by 2030, 90% of girls worldwide will have completed HPV vaccination by the age of 15.

Through a three-tier prevention and treatment pathway of vaccination, screening and treatment, the goal of eliminating cervical cancer worldwide will be promoted.

　

　In response to the persistent problem of high prices and shortages of imported HPV vaccines, Professor Wu Ting of the School of Public Health at Xiamen University said that the domestic dual-valent HPV vaccine "Xin Ke Ning" is produced using an innovative E. coli technology platform, making it possible to produce the vaccine on a large scale at a lower cost.

　　

In 2021, Xin Ke Ning was prequalified by the World Health Organization, which means that the domestic HPV vaccine has the opportunity to enter overseas markets for procurement by the United Nations system.

The nine-valent HPV vaccine developed by XU's team is also currently in phase III clinical trials, with preliminary efficacy data expected in 2023, and is expected to be available in 2023 or 2024.