It's 2022, why is the HPV vaccine so hard to grab?

　　Zhongxin Finance, January 13 (Reporter Zhang Ni) Recently, topics related to the nine-valent HPV vaccine have been on the hot search again.

Since it was approved for marketing in China in 2018, the phenomenon of "hard to find a single shot" of vaccines has always existed.

The reporter's investigation found that at present, some people in China have been queuing up for vaccination for more than two years.

　　Why is a dose of vaccine so scarce?

In the future, is it expected to ease?

In the data map, photo by Li Chun, a reporter from the News Agency

One shot of the vaccine is scheduled for two years, from nine-valent to four-valent

　　"I waited for 2 years to get this vaccine, from the nine-valent to the four-valent."

　　On December 8, 2021, Zhou Xin (pseudonym), who lives in Ulanhot, Inner Mongolia, was finally vaccinated with the first quadrivalent HPV vaccine.

Born in 1994, she was 27 years old at this time, exceeding the age for vaccination of the nine-valent vaccine.

　　Recalling her experience of waiting for a vaccine, Zhou Xin described it as "rough".

　　At the end of 2019, Zhou Xin started queuing up to make an appointment for the nine-valent vaccine. She said that she went to the local large hospital, CDC, and community health service station at the time, and the answer was "no". Then she also asked Changchun and Shenyang. Many hospitals and health centers in the country are still unsuccessful.

　　"Most of them say that even if there are seedlings, the people in the front line will be able to line up until 2020."

　　That wait is 2 years.

It wasn't until one day in September 2021 that Zhou Xin finally received a call from the local health service station in Ulanhot - the vaccine arrived.

However, at this time, she was over 26 years old and could only be vaccinated with the quadrivalent vaccine.

　　Even the quadrivalent vaccine is very precious locally.

　　"Doctors say I'm lucky because we haven't had many vaccines locally in the past two years."

　　Zhou Xin said that in the city where she lives, there are also people who use private hospitals or "find a relationship" to get vaccinated, and there are friends with good conditions around them who don't hesitate to spend a lot of money to go to private hospitals in big cities like Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou to get vaccinated. The vaccination requires 3 round trips, and the cost can be imagined.

Data map: HPV virus model photo by Wang Dongming

It's 2022, why is the

　　There are currently three HPV vaccines that have been marketed in the world, namely bivalent, quadrivalent and 9-valent vaccines.

Vaccines that have been marketed in China include the bivalent vaccine of the domestic Wantai Bio, the bivalent vaccine of GlaxoSmithKline, and the quadrivalent and ninevalent vaccines of Merck & Co.

　　Since the nine-valent HPV vaccine was approved for marketing in China in 2018, the phenomenon of "one shot is hard to find" has always existed.

　　In terms of vaccination age, the approved vaccination ages in China are: bivalent for women aged 9 to 45; quadrivalent for women aged 20 to 45; and nine for women aged 16 to 26.

However, because the nine-valent vaccine covers more virus subtypes, many young women will prefer nine-valent when vaccinating.

　　Earlier data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the nine-valent HPV vaccine is suitable for about 120 million people (16-26 years old).

　　According to the data released by Zhifei Biology (the exclusive domestic agent of Merck 9-valent HPV vaccine), in 2019, the annual batch issuance of MSD's 9-valent HPV vaccine in China was 3.324 million, and in 2020, it was 5.066 million.

　　Obviously, such a supply is far from enough to meet the domestic vaccination demand, which has led to the scarcity of nine-valent vaccines.

　　According to an earlier report by The Paper, professional technical and business teams have even emerged in China, with business scopes involving robbery, seedlings, smuggling of Hong Kong seedlings, etc. Some scalpers have made a lot of money because of this.

Data map: HPV vaccine.

Photo by Xu Lanqing

Expert: Don't blindly wait for the nine-valent vaccine

　　In recent years, HPV vaccination has been highly valued.

　　The National Health Commission previously stated that China will fully support the "Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer" proposed by the World Health Organization. The "Strategy" makes it clear that by 2030, 90% of girls in the world will be vaccinated against HPV before the age of 15. The three-level prevention and treatment path of vaccination, screening and treatment will promote the global goal of eliminating cervical cancer.

　　Earlier, many places including Wuxi in Jiangsu, Ordos in Inner Mongolia, Chengdu in Sichuan, etc. have clarified the free vaccination or subsidy plan of HPV vaccine.

　　Guangdong Province's financial plan will add about 600 million yuan for free HPV vaccine vaccination from 2022 to 2024; in December 2021, Jiangsu Province issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of women and children, proposing to "encourage qualified areas to use 9-15 One-year-old girls in school should focus on promoting the HPV vaccine.”

　　However, a reporter from China-News Finance and Economics noticed that the HPV vaccine that is currently free for women of appropriate age in many places is a domestic bivalent vaccine.

Some vaccine experts have analyzed that it is a pragmatic choice to provide bivalent vaccines. First, establish the basic protection rate and solve the main contradiction in cervical cancer prevention with the minimum cost.

　　In addition, some experts recently said that there are fourteen types of high-risk HPV viruses that cause cervical cancer. The most common types are 16 and 18, which can cause about 80% of cervical cancers.

Therefore, experts suggest that vaccinating HPV vaccines should not blindly wait for more prices, but should be protected as soon as possible.

Data map: At the Institute of Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control, Jing'an County, Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, women who came to be vaccinated are queuing to register their personal information.

Photo by Liu Lixin

Is it possible to alleviate the shortage of vaccines for enterprises to accelerate the deployment?

　　Although the current quadrivalent and nine-valent vaccines are mainly monopolized by foreign pharmaceutical companies, this situation is expected to be broken with the development of domestic vaccine companies.

　　Wantai Bio has stated earlier that the company is actively deploying the high-priced vaccine market, and the nine-valent HPV vaccine has entered the phase III clinical stage.

　　In October 2021, the company also released a plan for a non-public offering of shares, saying that it is expected to raise no more than 3.5 billion yuan for the second-phase expansion construction project of the nine-valent cervical cancer vaccine.

　　In addition, there are currently a number of HPV vaccine research projects in China that are also advancing.

In addition to the existing virus subtypes, 11-valent and 14-valent vaccines are also "on the way".

　　At the same time, Merck has previously stated that it will significantly increase the supply of HPV vaccines to China in 2022.

　　In addition, Merck is also actively conducting clinical trials to expand the indications of the HPV vaccine, in order to cover more age groups and groups and protect the health of more Chinese people.

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