The current state of introduction of human papillomavirus vaccination into national immunisation schedules in Europe: first results of the VENICE2 2010 survey

An important and highly cited overview of HPV vaccination programmes across EU countries. It revealed that most of the new EU Member States, which had overall higher cervical cancer rates, did not implement HPV universal vaccination. In contrast, most countries in western and southern Europe (so called "old member states") introduced universal vaccination quite early, despite they managed to better control cervical cancer through effective prophylactic programmes. Our maps showing this paradox, were used for many years to illustrate the need to take decisions on introducing vaccinations based on cost benefit analyses, taking into account the cost of illness, and not only considering the cost of the vaccine itself.