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. 2020 Jun;111(6):2156-2162.
doi: 10.1111/cas.14406. Epub 2020 Apr 27.

Corrected human papillomavirus vaccination rates for each birth fiscal year in Japan

Satoshi Nakagawa  1 , Yutaka Ueda  1 , Asami Yagi  1 , Sayaka Ikeda  2 , Kosuke Hiramatsu  1 , Tadashi Kimura  1
Affiliations

Corrected human papillomavirus vaccination rates for each birth fiscal year in Japan

Satoshi Nakagawa et al. Cancer Sci. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

In Japan, the serious adverse events after human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination were widely reported in the media. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) announced the suspension of the governmental recommendation of HPV vaccine in 2013, and the inoculation rate has since sharply declined. The estimated inoculation rate for each birth fiscal year (FY) announced by the MHLW and the actual numbers for each birth FY surveyed by local governments were very different. In particular, the cumulative vaccination rate of girls born in FY2000 was regarded to be as high as 42.9% by the Council of the MHLW. However, this estimation included a confusion. When the suspension of the governmental recommendation was announced in FY2013, the girls born in FY2000 turned 13 years old, the targeted starting age of the HPV vaccination. The vaccination rate of this generation is considered to be quite low. The numbers were recalculated in this study. This study revealed that the real vaccination rate is only 14.3%. Female individuals born in or after FY2000 have been confirmed to be exposed to the same cervical cancer risk as before the HPV vaccine was introduced in Japan.

Keywords: Japan; fiscal year; governmental suspension of recommendation; vaccination rate; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

AY received a lecture fee from Merck Sharp & Dohme. YU received lecture fees, a research fund (grant number J550703673), and a consultation fee from Merck Sharp & Dohme. TK received a research fund (VT#55166) from Merck Sharp & Dohme. This study was partially funded by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (grant number 15ck0106103h0102).

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Method used by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) to calculate the human papillomavirus vaccine uptake rates for the target girls according to birth fiscal year (FY). Age (y) in 2010 (A), 2011 (B), and 2013 (C). y/o, years old
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Method for correcting original data used by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) to calculate human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake rates. FY, fiscal year
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Year‐on‐year comparisons of the rates of human papillomavirus vaccination in Japan, estimated by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) (filled columns) and our corrected rates (dotted fill). The corrected vaccination rate for female individuals born in fiscal year (FY) 2000 was found to be significantly lower than that estimated by the MHLW. Vaccination rates among generations born after FY2000 are considered to be quite low
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References

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