A recent study suggests that vaccinating all 12-year-old girls against the viruses which cause most cervical cancers could reduce the disease’s fatality rate by up to 75%. The Cervarix jab, developed by GlaxoSmithKline and winner of the Horrible Name for a Vaccine Award, protects against 2 human papillomavirus strains, namely HPV 16 and HPV 18. Although the Cervarix jab is still under development, rival Sanofi Pasteur’s vaccine, Gardasil, has already received European approval. The two vaccines were discussed at the International Papillomavirus Conference where Gardasil’s new success figure gave hope to many and flamed the existing competition with GlaxoSmithKline. Researchers say that if all 12 year-old girls in the UK were vaccinated with GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix jab, the annual number of cases of the disease would drop from 2,841 to 682.

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