A decision by the government to stop recommending adolescent girls receive an HPV vaccination will likely result in almost 11,000 deaths from cervical cancer if it is not reversed, according to a study in a prestigious medical journal.
The HPV vaccine has been a political lightning rod in Japan, where claims of side effects prompted the government to halt active recommendation of the shots in June 2013.
A study published in The Lancet Public Health on Monday said that policy would lead to more than 24,600 cervical cancer cases that could have been prevented.