How effective is the new vaccine for HPV at preventing cervical cancer?
SW: Gardasil protects against both HPV 16 and 18 as well as two other types, so it covers about 75 percent of cancers. At least as important, however, is the protection it gives against the preinvasive condition, or cervical dysplasia. This happens as cells are in the initial stages of the process of becoming cancerous. Removing these cells requires a surgical procedure, which could raise risks for other complications. Being vaccinated may help avoid this. EH: Can women stop doing Pap tests once they have the vaccine? SW: No! And I can’t emphasize this enough. Women still should have Pap tests to screen for cervical cancer whether or not they’ve had the vaccine. The vaccine covers 75 percent of the risk, and that’s important, but there’s still the other 25 percent. People tend to forget that before Pap tests became available, cervical cancer was the leading cause of cancer death for women (in the 1930s and 40s) — even more than breast cancer. And it’s still a leading cause in underdeve
