In Summary:
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Since the Government of Liberia launched its Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign targeting girls aged 9 to 18, claims about the vaccine’s inability to prevent cervical cancer and reduce fertility have spread widely on social media.
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We have verified the claims by reviewing credible scientific sources and interviewing a public health expert, who confirms that the HPV vaccine is safe, effective, and part of a global public health effort to prevent cervical cancer.
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This makes the widespread claims about the vaccine being unsafe for girls misleading.
Following the launch of the HPV vaccination campaign by the Liberian government, through the Ministry of Health and its global health partners, a Liberian man based in the United States, only identified as Pastor Godson, claimed in a message widely circulated on social media that there is no HPV Vaccine, noting that the Liberian government is designing the campaign to control the country’s population growth.
HPV (Human Papillomavirus) is a sexually transmitted virus responsible for over 90% of cervical cancer cases worldwide.
According to the WHO and CDC, HPV types 16 and 18 cause most cases of invasive cervical cancer among women.
The Claim
Pastor Godson claims: “The HPV vaccine being administered to girls in Liberia is unsafe, does not prevent cancer, and it is intended to ‘reduce population.’
Rating Justification
After seeing and listening to the message circulating on social media, our Fact-Checking Desk decided to verify the claims.
We began by conducting online research about the HPV vaccine by reviewing credible global health sources.
According to the WHO, Cervical cancer is preventable and curable, as long as it is detected early and managed effectively. The organization described cervical cancer as the 4th most common form of cancer among women worldwide, with the disease claiming the lives of almost 350,000 women in 2022.
As part of its strategy to eliminate cervical cancer, the WHO mandates that each country meet the 90–70–90 targets by 2030 to get on the path to eliminating cervical cancer within the next century. The World Health Organization says the HPV vaccine is the most effective way of preventing cervical cancer, recommending that the vaccine be given to girls between the ages of nine and 14.
Gavi, the global Vaccine Alliance that works with governments and private partners to expand equitable access to immunization, also confirms that the HPV vaccine is very safe and highly effective. According to Gavi, the vaccine is 97% effective at preventing HPV-16 and HPV-18, the two strains responsible for about 70% of all cervical cancer cases.
According to Gavi, the vaccine has gone through rigorous testing and has been given to more than 270 million people worldwide since 2006.
We then spoke with a Liberian public health expert Joyce L. Kilikpo, who is the Executive Director of the Public Health Initiative of Liberia. She explained that the HPV vaccine is very safe and highly effective in preventing HPV-16 and HPV-18.
She said the strains are responsible for most cervical cancer cases. She explained that the vaccine was first introduced in Liberia in 2019 and was initially piloted in Bong and Nimba Counties.
Before its approval in Liberia, the vaccine underwent testing, clinical trials, safety monitoring, and regulatory review by the National Technical Advisory Group (NATAG), the independent body responsible for assessing new vaccines in the country.
The public health practitioner encouraged mothers to take their daughters aged 9 to 18 for vaccination to protect them from cervical cancer. She emphasized that Liberia’s campaign aligns with the World Health Organization’s global elimination strategy, which aims to vaccinate 90% of all girls by 2030.
Conclusion
Based on these findings, we conclude that the viral social media claim that the HPV vaccine is unsafe or intended to reduce fertility is misleading.
The vaccine is a globally trusted, lifesaving tool proven to prevent cervical cancer, one of the leading killers of women. Since 2006, the vaccine has been given to more than 270 million people across the World. The Government of Liberia’s HPV Vaccine campaign aligns with the WHO’s global cervical cancer elimination strategy and aims to protect future generations of Liberian women.
