Promised In 2024, Govt's Cervical Cancer Vaccine Drive Delayed Till October This Year. Here's Why

Written By :

Edited By:

Apoorva Misra

Last Updated:March 03, 2025, 10:20 IST

News18 spoke to three senior officials in the Union health ministry who indicated that the campaign is awaiting the availability of stock of vaccines

Cervical cancer ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women in India and the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age. (PTI)

The Narendra Modi government is keen to launch a cervical cancer vaccination drive for young girls very soon — most likely by the second half of the year. In 2024’s interim budget, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced plans to vaccinate young girls aged between nine and 14 years against cervical cancer, recognising the urgent need to fight the disease.

A year has passed since the announcement but there has been no progress. In fact, in the latest budget announcements, the government reiterated its plans to run a campaign along with announcing several other measures against cancer, including the launch of day-care cancer centres and relieving taxes and duties on certain cancer drugs.

Then why is the planned campaign still in a limbo? News18 spoke to three senior officials in the Union health ministry who indicated that the campaign is awaiting the availability of stock of vaccines. “The campaign can only take off once the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), the manufacturer of the HPV vaccine, gives its go-ahead. The government’s campaign plan requires over 10 crore vaccine doses for the next six years to immunise girls aged 9-14 years," said an officer privy to the development.

The officer indicated that the government may be able to kickstart the inoculation drive by September-October this year. “We may be ready to launch the campaign in the next six to seven months."

Cervical cancer ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women in India and the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age.

According to the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, nearly all cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). There are 120 different types of HPV, more than 30 of which can infect the genitals. About five per cent of women in the general population are estimated to carry cervical HPV-16/18 infection at a given time, and 83.2 per cent of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to HPVs 16 or 18.

‘In A Covid-Like Situation’

The officials told News18 that while the government is “very keen" to launch the campaign, they are facing the problem of supply of vaccine doses.

“Our requirement is huge as we need crores of doses every year and no drug maker in the world can fulfil our requirement. We are in a Covid-19-like situation where we need our own vaccine to support the vaccination campaign. Hence, we only have to wait for SII," said the second official.

According to the strategy proposed by the team of officials, each cohort comprising girls from 9 to 14 years consists of 1.25 crore young girls. From 9 to 14, there are six groups (cohorts) and requirements for straight six years. Also, the current HPV vaccine is a two-shot vaccine, hence, doubling the requirement for each group.

“Our requirement for the first year is around three crore doses followed by 3.50 crore for the second year and 3.75 crore doses for the third year. From the fourth year onwards, demand will come down to 1.25 crore doses for every subsequent year," the second source said.

News18 reached out to SII in an email with queries related to the Union government’s huge demand and when the company is likely to supply the vaccines. The email did not fetch any response. However, a company insider told News18 that the firm is working on upgrading its manufacturing capacities.

‘Trial Underway’

While SII is upgrading its manufacturing capacities on one hand, on the other, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is running a clinical trial to assess the efficacy of one dose of the HPV vaccine.