HPV vaccines in China: A narrative review

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common malignancy among women worldwide, with persistent high-risk HPV infection as its necessary cause. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set the “90-70-90” targets for 2030 to accelerate cervical cancer elimination. Given China’s large population, progress in vaccine accessibility, coverage, and long-term protection will have a major impact on global control efforts. Despite advances in vaccine development, approval, and policy innovation, challenges remain, including uneven coverage, limited long-term follow-up, low male vaccination uptake, and financial sustainability. This review synthesizes evidence on vaccine development, clinical evaluation landscape, policy practice, and HPV vaccination coverage in China to identify key barriers to implementation and outline strategic directions for achieving sustainable high coverage. It aims to inform the design of a unified national immunization program in China and provide lessons for cervical cancer prevention in other low- and middle-income countries.

Keywords

Human papillomavirus (HPV) / Cervical cancer prevention / Health policy / One Health

Conflict of interest statement

The authors claim there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was supported by the General Guidance Program of Guangzhou Municipal Health Science and Technology (20241A010096), Guangzhou Science and Technology Program Project (2025A03J3687, 2024B03J1332).

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Authors’ contributions

Zhao LX, Mao WY, and Lu JY conceived and designed the study. Zhao LX and Mao WY prepared the original draft and contributed to visualization. Lu JY was responsible for writing-review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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