Amendment to the 2015 "Update on the recommended Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine immunization schedule"

Recommendations #1 and #3 have been amended through the removal of the following text:

"If the interval between doses is shorter than 5 months, a third dose should be given at least 6 months after the first dose."

The amended Recommendations are as follows:

Recommendation #1:

Healthy females (9-14 years of age) - NACI Grade A Recommendation

Either a 2-dose or 3-dose schedule of the HPV vaccine (Gardasil^® or Cervarix^®) is recommended for immunocompetent, non-HIV infected females 9-14 years of age. For a 2-dose schedule, at least 6 months between the first and second dose is recommended.

Recommendation #3:

Healthy males (9-14 years of age) - NACI Grade B Recommendation

Either a 2-dose or 3-dose schedule of the HPV4 vaccine (Gardasil^®) is recommended for immunocompetent, non-HIV infected males 9-14 years of age. For a 2-dose schedule, at least 6 months between the first and second dose is recommended.

These recommendations were adopted from the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), World Health Organization (WHO), position paper "Human papillomavirus vaccines: WHO position paper, October 2014 - Recommendations". The SAGE literature review which informed these recommendations was confirmed to meet NACI methodological standards. These recommendations and the supporting evidence were reviewed by NACI during the development of the recent statement titled "Updated Recommendations on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccines: 9-valent HPV vaccine and clarification of minimum intervals between doses in the HPV immunization schedule". As outlined in the recent statement clarifying minimum intervals, current evidence and expert opinion support 6 months as the minimum interval between the first and last dose of either a 2-dose or 3-dose schedule.