Our mission is to study the impact of the HPV vaccine in Australia and measure its impact on the lives of millions of people.
The study begins with collecting routine data from multiple sources including laboratories, the National Cancer Screening Register and Australian Immunisation Register. This is fast, effective and easy, and provides all the information we need.
We take the data we have collected and analyse it to see patterns and outcomes that can be attributed to the HPV vaccine.
We report the results for how successful the HPV vaccine in Australia has been. These results provide important information on the impact of HPV vaccination to inform policy and practice.
A nonavalent vaccine called Gardasil 9 has been developed that protects against the seven oncogenic HPV types (types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58), which cause 90% of cervical cancers in women and HPV related cancers in men. It also protects against two low-risk HPV types (types 6 and 11), which cause 90% of genital warts. This vaccine is provided by the Australian Government free of charge for girls and boys aged 12-13.
The IMPACT study will monitor how well the National HPV Vaccination Program is working by measuring how common the HPV virus is now, in healthy men and women. In the coming years, reports and research outputs providing information about the study and our findings will be posted here.
During 2014-2018 we recruited participants through a network of Family Planning, Sexual Health, General Practice Clinics, and Aboriginal Medical Services throughout Australia. From 2019, we are employing several strategies to best assess the impact of the vaccine among different populations of interest. The introduction of primary HPV testing with partial genotyping, provides an opportunity to integrate monitoring of both the screening and vaccination programs among women participating in cervical screening. This system is complemented with targeted sentinel surveillance using residual clinical samples submitted for routine STI testing in specific Australian populations, (such as women under the age of 25, and men who have sex with men) to provide comprehensive epidemiological surveillance of HPV vaccine impact in Australia.
A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has examined the impact of the pandemic on the way Australians utilise health services, including cancer screenin
A modelling study conducted by the Cancer Council NSW predicts that cervical cancer may be effectively eliminated in Australia by 2035. The full study can be found here.
On 17 November 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally launched the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer. The International Agency fo
"Its very easy to take part in, and only requires a few minutes of someones time. These few minutes can have far reaching effects, because the results of this study can help save peoples lives".
— Dorothy Machalek, PhD, Manager National HPV Monitoring Program
"Many people do not know that the HPV virus can lead to cancer in some patients. Think about that for a moment. What this study will help us do is to measure the prevention, and discover how this vaccine has affected the nation since it's adoption".
— Sepehr Tabrizi, Professor of Micriobiology, Royal Women’s Hospital