Many women under 30 who have cervical cancer have not been vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), cancer centre IKNL has said in a study published on HPV Awareness Day.

The researchers looked at the files of 135 women born between 1993 and 2010 who contracted the disease in their 20s. Of the 84 women whose vaccination status was known, 71, or 85%, did not get the HPV shots. HPV has been part of the annual vaccination programme since 2010.

Gynacologist and cancer specialist Luc van Lonkhuizen, one of the initiators of the study at Amsterdam UMC, said that in past few years he had seen several young women with cervical cancer who had not been vaccinated.

“I struggle with the knowledge that their illness could have been prevented. We want this study to highlight the importance of the vaccination. It can prevent so much misery,” he said.

The uptake in girls born between 1997 and 2010 is between 60% and 70%, the RIVM said. A free vaccination campaign targetting over a million 19 to 27-year-olds resulted in just 21% getting the vaccination. The vaccine is thought to be less effective after the age of 27.

“We have to make an effort to crank up the numbers,” head researcher Maaike van der Aa said. “Follow-up campaigns have not been effective enough and our study shows that in most cases young women with cervical cancer are unvaccinated,” she said.

The vaccine, which consists of two doses six months apart, is offered at age 10 and reduces the chances of getting cervical cancer by 87%, international research has shown.

Women should also participate in the national HPV screening, followed by a smear test in case of an infection. However, the uptake of the test, which can be done at home, is also low. Just half of women over 30 participated in 2023.

The HPV virus can affect both girls and boys. In girls, the virus can cause cervical cancer and, more rarely, cancer of the labia. Boys can get cancer of the penis or anus. Some 1,100 women and 400 men are diagnosed with cancer caused by HPV every year.