Terrence Higgins Trust today responded to the announcement that the Department of Health is going to use the Cervarix HPV vaccine to protect young women against cervical cancer. The vaccine was chosen over a rival which protects against both cervical cancer and genital warts.

Lisa Power, Head of Policy at Terrence Higgins Trust said:
"While we welcome any advance at all we are very disappointed at the short-sightedness of this decision. By failing to choose the vaccine with the widest coverage, the Department of Health is condemning Britons to a further increase in genital warts and other cancers which could have been prevented. They are saving pennies to spend pounds later. Most European countries have taken the sensible decision to protect their population from both cervical cancer and genital warts simultaneously, but it seems that the UK is fated to be not just the poor man of Europe but also the warty one."

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