The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9738, Pages 329 – 330, 31 July 2010
Peter Bach states in his Comment1 that poorer states in the USA with higher mortality from cervical cancer have lower coverage with the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine than do wealthier states; however, he does not indicate the disparities in vaccination policies and financial coverage within each state. We would like to know how the vaccine legislative proposals and vaccination charges differ between states.
A bivalent HPV vaccine was approved in Japan in December, 2009. This vaccine is expected to be beneficial for Japanese people, whose coverage for cervical cancer screening is extremely low (24%) compared with other Western countries.
