India to vaccinate 14-year-old girls against cervical cancer

Sumit Jha

Feb 25, 2026

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Every seven minutes, a woman in India dies of cervical cancer.

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The Union government will soon roll out a nationwide human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme targeting girls aged 14.

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The programme will use Gardasil, a single-shot vaccine that targets four strains of HPV, including types 16 and 18, which cause more than 80 percent of cervical cancer cases in India.

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The vaccination will be voluntary and run as a special drive outside the Universal Immunisation Programme. 

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Trained medical officers will administer the doses and monitor recipients afterwards.