HPV Vaccination in Gurugram

Girls and boys from age 9, and women up to 45. It works best when given before any exposure to the virus, which is why it is offered young - but starting later is not pointless, and the reasoning is set out on this page.

It depends on your age at the first dose, not your age when you finish. Two doses if the course starts before the 15th birthday, at least six months apart. Three doses if it starts at 15 or older, usually at 0, 2 and 6 months.

The World Health Organization accepts a single-dose schedule between 9 and 20, and the evidence behind it is strong. Our standard follows the licensed two- and three-dose schedules, but if a single dose is what you can realistically complete, one dose is very much better than none.

An Indian study followed about 17,000 girls aged 10 to 18 for ten years. A single dose gave 95.4% protection against persistent infection with HPV 16 and 18, statistically no different from two or three doses. That Indian data is a large part of why single-dose schedules are now used worldwide.

Scotland has vaccinated schoolgirls since 2008 and links every vaccination record to its screening programme. Among women fully vaccinated at ages 12 to 13, the number of cervical cancers detected up to 2023 was zero. That is about as direct as evidence gets.

Yes. India began nationwide HPV vaccination on 28 February 2026 - girls aged 14, across every State and Union Territory, around 1.15 crore in the first round, repeating each year. A government does not put a vaccine into its national immunisation programme lightly, so this is the strongest public endorsement the vaccine has had in India.

That the safety and effectiveness data were judged strong enough to offer it to every 14-year-old girl in the country. It places HPV vaccination in the same category as the childhood vaccines nobody hesitates over. If you were waiting for an official signal that this is worth doing, it has been given.

The national campaign is built around one age group, so girls aged 9 to 13, anyone aged 15 and above, boys, and anyone who wants the nonavalent vaccine arrange it privately. That is most of the people who ask us about it.

The bivalent vaccine covers HPV 16 and 18. The quadrivalent covers 6, 11, 16 and 18. The nonavalent covers those four plus 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58. There are more than 200 HPV types in total, but a small number cause almost all the harm.

Because between them they cause about 66% of all cervical cancers. Every HPV vaccine covers both, which is why all of them protect strongly against the disease that matters most.

More than 90% of genital warts. They are low-risk types - they do not cause cancer - and they are covered by the quadrivalent and nonavalent vaccines but not the bivalent.

It adds HPV 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58, which account for a further 15% of cervical cancers. That takes total coverage from around 66% to roughly 81%. It is also the only HPV vaccine licensed for boys in India.

Cervavac is the quadrivalent vaccine made in India by the Serum Institute, covering HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18. Gardasil is the other quadrivalent, and Gardasil 9 is the nonavalent. Cervarix is the bivalent.

No. The vaccine covers several high-risk types, and having been exposed to one does not mean you have met them all. You still get protection against the types you have not encountered.

The vaccine will not clear an infection you already have - it is preventive, not a treatment. It can still protect against other types. In your situation the priority is the follow-up plan for the infection that was found, and the vaccine is a secondary conversation.

It is worth discussing. Pooled data from 18 studies suggests vaccination after excisional treatment reduces the risk of high-grade recurrence by around 57%, and by about 74% for HPV 16/18-related disease. The authors were careful to say the evidence is promising rather than conclusive, and most of it is observational.

There is a good case. It protects against anal, penile and throat cancers and genital warts, and it reduces transmission to partners. In India only the nonavalent vaccine is licensed for males, for ages 9 to 15.

No, it is not given during pregnancy - not because harm has been shown, but because it has not been studied there. If you become pregnant partway through the course, the remaining doses simply wait until after delivery. Breastfeeding is not a reason to delay.

No. The course does not restart, however long the gap has been - you continue from where you left off. This matters, because the belief that a delay wastes the earlier doses stops a lot of people from ever finishing.

Usually a sore arm for a day or two, sometimes a mild fever or headache. Fainting happens occasionally in teenagers, which is why everyone is asked to sit for about fifteen minutes afterwards. Serious reactions are rare.

No. There is no evidence that it affects fertility, ovarian function or future pregnancies. This is one of the commonest fears raised in the clinic and it is not supported by the data.

Yes, and this is the most important thing on this page. No HPV vaccine covers every cancer-causing type. Vaccination lowers your risk substantially; screening finds what slips through, years before it becomes anything. You need both.

None. No fasting, no blood tests, nothing to stop beforehand. Come as you are, and eat normally before you come.

A short consultation covering your age, history, any previous doses and whether you might be pregnant; the injection into the upper arm, which takes seconds; then about fifteen minutes sitting before you leave. Your next dose is booked before you walk out.

Generally yes, and it is worth asking rather than making two trips. Bring a note of anything else you are due.

No. Testing first is not recommended and does not change the decision to vaccinate, because the vaccine protects against types you have not yet encountered regardless of what you have.

At the clinic. It is an outpatient injection with no admission, no anaesthetic and no fasting. Pap smears and HPV DNA testing are also done here. Colposcopy, if it is ever needed after an abnormal smear, is arranged at hospital.

There is no evidence of protection waning in the follow-up available so far, which now runs well past a decade, and no booster is currently recommended. The Indian cohort was still protected at ten years.

There is no routine HPV test for men. That is one of the arguments for vaccinating boys rather than relying on detection later.

Any record of previous HPV doses, a list of your medicines, and the dates if you are unsure where you are in a course. If you are coming for a daughter, bring her immunisation card.