Facade of the Department of Health office in Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said that it is eyeing to administer one dose of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among young girls to expand the reach of vaccination.
The DOH said that the recommendation will be 鈥減ragmatically feasible鈥� for the agency to administer vaccines to more girls and to reach more schools.
鈥淲e have received positive recommendations from international experts that there may be a consideration to administer only one dose of the HPV vaccine,鈥� the DOH said in a media conference in Bataan.
鈥淗owever, this is still being studied in consideration with our prospects on existing regulatory frameworks and to ensure that we are not compromising efficacy by shifting into one dose for the HPV vaccine,鈥� the DOH added.
It noted that once it secured approval, they can begin shifting to one dose of vaccination and expand its vaccination to two cohorts: among grade 4 and grade 5 female students, as long as the age is still covered by the effectiveness of the vaccine.
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The HPV vaccine is currently administered with two doses among young female schoolchildren aged 9 years. The vaccine prevents most cases of cervical cancer, which ranks as the second most common cancer among women in the country.
The agency added that part of its identified strategy to scale up the immunization program is to achieve 90% coverage of HPV vaccination by age 15.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa previously said that the vaccination is part of the health agency鈥檚 school-based immunization program. In December 2024, he said that the agency vaccinated a total of 505,010 9-year-old girls in grade 4, reaching 64.48% of the target population.
Meanwhile, the agency also said that it is targeting to expand the conduct of the school-based immunization program to private schools.
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Further, the DOH shared that the evidence of the recommendation coming from international experts like the World Health Organization is based on 鈥渕ultiple cohort studies.鈥� It noted that followup studies are done among inoculated girls after 10 years.
鈥淪o they would compare the efficacy of the vaccine if the child received two or one, and they found out that most of the efficacy level of one versus two dose regime was the same,鈥� the DOH said.