The HPV Vaccine: The Cancer Vaccine They Love to Hate

It is one of the few vaccines that prevents cancer, and the evidence from Scotland and Sweden is as clear as medicine gets. It has also been a favourite target of the anti-vaccine movement for nearly twenty years — including lawsuits in which the man who now runs U.S. health policy held a referral-fee interest.

1. A vaccine that prevents cancer

Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes almost all cervical cancers, and a share of cancers of the throat, anus, penis, vulva and vagina. The vaccine prevents infection with the types that cause most of them. It works best given before any exposure, which is why it is offered to children around ages 9 to 13.

• Scotland: Public Health Scotland researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in January 2024 that not one case of invasive cervical cancer had been found, to the end of 2020, among women vaccinated at 12 or 13. Women vaccinated later, at 14 to 22, also had far fewer cancers, and the benefit was greatest in the poorest areas. (Commentary in JNCI.)
• Sweden: a 2020 study of about 1.7 million girls and women in the New England Journal of Medicine (Lei et al.) found that those vaccinated before age 17 had an 88% lower risk of invasive cervical cancer.
• Safety: hundreds of millions of doses have been given worldwide. Large studies and the World Health Organization’s vaccine-safety committee have repeatedly found no link to the conditions anti-vaccine campaigners blame on it. The common side effects are a sore arm, fainting in some teenagers after any injection, and brief fever or headache.

2. Canada: elimination within reach

Canada has committed to eliminating cervical cancer by 2040, meaning fewer than 4 cases per 100,000 women. In 2022 the rate was 8.7. About 1,600 Canadian women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2024, and about 400 died of it (Canadian Journal of Public Health, August 2026).

• School programs: publicly funded HPV vaccination began for girls in 2007. By 2017 every province and territory offered it to boys and girls.
• Coverage: the national target was 90% of 17-year-olds fully vaccinated by 2025. It has not been met. School-program coverage with at least one dose ranges from 66% to 93% across the country. In Ontario in 2023–24, 67.7% of 12-year-olds had at least one dose and 52.3% had two.
• One dose: Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization now recommends a single dose for young people, which several provinces have adopted. That makes catching up easier.

3. How it became a target

Because HPV is sexually transmitted, the vaccine drew opposition from the start that had nothing to do with its safety. Three episodes show the pattern:

• “It encourages sex.” Studies in several countries have found that vaccinated girls do not start sexual activity earlier or have more partners. Even so, some Canadian Catholic school boards, including Calgary’s, refused for years to allow HPV clinics in their schools before reversing course.
• Japan. After unverified reports of pain and movement disorders spread through the media, Japan’s health ministry stopped actively recommending the vaccine in June 2013. Coverage collapsed from most girls to almost none. Expert reviews found no evidence the vaccine caused the reported symptoms, and Japan resumed its recommendation in April 2022 — leaving a generation of young women unprotected.
• Lawsuits. In the United States, the anti-vaccine movement turned its claims into product-liability litigation. That is the next section.

4. The Gardasil lawsuits, and Kennedy’s fees

No court has found that Gardasil caused the injuries claimed. The federal cases were dismissed; the rest were settled. Drug companies often settle to end the cost and publicity of litigation, and a settlement is not a finding of fault.

5. What parents and clinicians can do