Women in Shanghai are now able to receive tetravalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations in the middle of March, healthcare authorities announced Wednesday, Shanghai Morning Post reported Thursday.
The vaccine, targeting HPV 6, 11, 16, 18, has been approved for use among women aged between 20 and 45, according to Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control & Prevention. A single injection is sold for 803.5 yuan ($126.7). It requires a series of three injections over a period of six months, costing 2,410.5 yuan in total.
The Chinese mainland approved the country's first HPV vaccine Cervarix in July of 2016 after six years of clinical testing on some 6,000 Chinese participants. Shanghai launched the bivalent vaccine (targeting HPV 16 and 18) in November 2017, which is registered for use among females aged 9 to 25 years old.
HPV is estimated at almost half a million cases worldwide, according to statistics from WHO.
