MSD Korea said it recently held a symposium, “Towards Cervical Cancer Elimination: A New Era of HPV Prevention in Korea,” at the 110th Congress of the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (KSOG).

Among women (born between 2003 and 2010) included in Korea's national immunization program (NIP), the complete vaccination rate for two doses of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine is 68 percent. However, males born in the same years are not included in the NIP, with a vaccination rate of only 0.3 percent.

At the KSOG’s Gardasil 9 Luncheon Symposium, Professor Lim Hyeon-ji of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at CHA University Ilsan Medical Center shared the latest data on the need for men and women to be vaccinated with the HPV vaccine to advance HPV prevention in Korea and the effectiveness of Gardasil 9 in preventing related diseases caused by infection with a wide range of subtypes.

According to Professor Lim, HPV genotyping of 13,543 infection cases in 2021 showed that infection rates were higher among women infected with high-risk HPV, followed by HPV types 16, 52, and 58. By the status of HPV genotypes in Korea, types 16 and 18 are the most frequently infected HPVs, but the latest epidemiological data shows that type 52 has an infection rate almost similar to that of type 16.

Lim also noted that diseases caused by types 52 and 58 are preventable with the 9-valent vaccine.

Professor Lim shared the contents of the KSOG’s HPV vaccine recommendations, revised in November this year.

The main highlights include: revaccination with the 9-valent HPV vaccine is recommended for women who have already received the bivalent/quadrivalent vaccine because it can reduce the risk of infection with additional virus subtypes and improve the evidence and level of recommendation for HPV vaccination in women who have undergone conization.

“Since the introduction of the bivalent/quadrivalent HPV vaccine into the national immunization program, the incidence of cervical cancer in Korea has decreased. However, in addition to type 16, which existing vaccines can prevent, there is a need to prevent high-risk groups that cause high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), such as type 58,” Professor Lim said.

Recently, infections of type 52 and type 58 have been frequently reported in Korea after type 16, so Lim added that the prevention effect of high-risk HPV subtypes can be strengthened by vaccination with the 9-valent vaccine or by booster vaccination for those who have received the bivalent/quadrivalent vaccine.

The symposium also highlighted research on the increasing burden of HPV-related diseases and cancers in men in Korea and the vulnerability of men to HPV infection.

Vaccination is important because there is a lack of screening for HPV-related cancers other than cervical cancer, and men are less likely to develop natural antibodies to HPV infection than women.

“Most OECD countries have adopted HPV vaccination as a NIP for adolescents of both sexes because HPV diseases and cancers occur in both sexes,” KSOG President Kim Young-tae said. “It is urgent to prevent HPV-related diseases in males from adolescence. The 9-valent HPV vaccine has shown sustained immunogenicity and safety in both males and females at 10-year follow-up, so the 9-valent vaccine should be considered for prevention.”