Cervical screening and HPV vaccination guide
Cervical screening and HPV vaccination guide. Practical steps for women deciding about screening and parents of girls eligible for the vaccine.
For: Women deciding about screening and parents of girls eligible for the vaccine
General guidance across countries. Sources checked 2026-09-26.
The vaccine and the screen do different jobs
The HPV vaccine is given to girls at about nine to fourteen years old, before they become sexually active. It prevents the infection that causes the cancer, which is why the age matters: it works best before exposure, not after a diagnosis.
Screening is for adult women and looks for changes that are already there. WHO recommends a high-performance test every five to ten years from the age of thirty, and every three to five years from twenty-five for a woman living with HIV. Having had the vaccine does not replace being screened.
What symptoms mean here
At the stage where this is easiest to treat there are no symptoms at all. That is uncomfortable to read and it is the reason screening exists: waiting to feel something is waiting too long.
When symptoms do appear they are usually bleeding - after sex, between periods, or after the periods have stopped for good - or a discharge that smells, or pain low in the back or during sex. None of those means cancer, and most turn out to be something else, but all of them mean an examination rather than a screening appointment.
Sources
- Cervical cancer · World Health Organization · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO