It was announced last week that the new cervical cancer vaccine will provide protection for older women as well as young girls.
Until now the focus has been on making the vaccine available to girls who have not yet been in contact with the human papilloma virus (HPV) which causes the disease, but with trials still ongoing the latest results mean that women of all ages could be considered for immunisation.
With the vaccine likely to be available in 6 months who should get the vaccine? And once the vaccine is in place, what will it mean for the screening programme? Martha is joined by Anne Szarewski, head of Cancer Research UK’s vaccination programme and Margaret Stanley Professor of epithelial cell biology and pathology at the University of Cambridge to look at the long term implications of the new vaccine.
