According to NTAGI chairperson Dr. NK Arora, India would begin the spread use of its domestically created Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV) preventing cervical cancer in girls aged 9-14 by mid of 2023, under the National Immunisation Programme.
SII CEO Adar C Poonawalla stated in September 2022 that HPV vaccination will be accessible in India at a low cost of 200-400 Indian rupees per dosage.
The vaccine name CERVAVAC is expected to be released by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in April of next year, at a far cheaper cost than the multinational vaccines already on the market. According to Prakash Kumar Singh, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at the SII, spoke in South Asia HPV meet.
Dr. Arora told PTI that the vaccine is now approved by the DCGI and certified by the government advisory council National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) to be used in programme related to the public health.
At the moment, the government is completely reliant on foreign producers for the supply of vaccine. In all total three international businesses make the HPV vaccination from which two corporations offer their immunizations in India. Each dosage of the vaccine available on the market value more than 4,000 Indian Rupees.
The vaccine developed by Serum Institute will most likely be accessible at a significantly reduced cost.
India is home to around 16% of the globe's women and is responsible for roughly a 1/4 of all cervical cancer occurrences and nearly a 1/3 of all cervical cancer fatalities.
According to Dr. Arora, Indian women have a 1.6% lifetime cumulative chance of having cervical cancer plus a 1% lifelong cumulative risk of dying due to cervical cancer.
Less than one-third of poor and lower-middle income nations had included the HPV vaccination in their nationwide immunisation programmes as of 2020. Dr. Arora stated that 85% of high-income countries have already included this into their public health programmes.