The State Steering Committee for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Campaign convened a meeting under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary Sanjay Gupta to review the preparedness for statewide roll-out of new vaccination under the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP).
The Chairperson of Steering Committee directed all administrative secretaries to ensure intersectoral cooperation to achieve optimal result during this campaign. Special emphasis laid on mass awareness campaign through government departments, Gram Panchayats and Urban Bodies regrading benefits of this vaccine against cervical cancer, its safety and free availability to all the eligible girls between the age groups (14-15 years).
An effective campaign through all media platforms including social media, print media, electronic media highlighting the facts about health benefits, safety and free availability of this single dose vaccine, stressed upon.
The National Health Mission in close coordination with other stakeholder departments and medical experts has been entrusted this task. Cervical cancer remains the second most common cancer among women in India and continues to claim thousands of lives each year. Persistent infection with high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary cause of this preventable disease. Scientific evidence clearly establishes that the HPV vaccine is safe, effective, and globally recommended, with a strong safety record across more than 150 countries. Millions of doses have been administered worldwide.
During this campaign phase, starting from 28 Feburary 2026, approximately 67,000 eligible adolescent girls (14 years to 15 years old) are targeted to be vaccinated with the HPV vaccine. The vaccination sessions are scheduled on 29 March 2026, 5 April 2026 and 12 April 2026 for the state. Catchment sessions for left-out eligible cohort are planned on19 April 2026, 10 May 2026,24 May 2026 and 21 June 2026.
After this three-month campaign, HPV vaccination will continue as routine immunization under Universal Immunization Program and all eligible adolescent girls will be vaccinated.
Vaccination has been planned exclusively at 378 designated Government ealth facilities (Cold Chain Points) with trained medical staff, strict cold chain maintenance, digital registration and real-time monitoring through U-WIN portal. Proper consent procedures and transparent communication mechanisms has been put in place.
The Chairperson further stressed that the state is committed for holistic health of the citizens with particular focus on girl child. As per the numerical data collected, about 67000 eligible adolescent girls will be benefitted by the vaccination program, which will reduce the total cancer burden of the state. This campaign and subsequent roll-out of this vaccine under universal immunization program align with the vision of Chief Minister for healthy and prosperous Himachal. This vaccine although available in private sector, but its cost is very high whereas this vaccine is being provided free of cost under UIP of the government to all eligible girls.
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