Free HPV vaccine announced in Ukraine: what will change in the National Vaccination Calendar from 2026

From 2026, the vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which was previously only available commercially, will appear in the National Vaccination Calendar. This will be an important step in the fight against cervical cancer in Ukraine. Deputy Minister of Health – Chief State Sanitary Doctor Ihor Kuzin said this during a briefing, the correspondent reports. UNN.

Details

“Probably the key change is the planned introduction of a new antigen — a vaccine against the human papilloma virus. And this is really, in my opinion, such a breakthrough for Ukraine, because this vaccine was used exclusively on a commercial basis, and it was rarely received as humanitarian aid. And the demand for it is actually wide enough — the vaccine allows you to protect children, and then adults, from those types of cancer that are caused by oncogenic types of viruses,” Kuzin said.

According to him, the introduction of such a vaccine will have a significant impact on the incidence of cervical cancer, which is quite a serious problem for Ukraine. A wider introduction of multi-component vaccines is also envisaged, when several antigens are administered during one injection.

“This is done at least to simplify the vaccination process itself, to reduce the number of visits, to reduce the burden on the number of injections for such a child who is vaccinated. The relevant vaccination schemes against tuberculosis, against hepatitis B, against measles, mumps, and rubella have been adjusted. And just as well it was proposed to update the section that dealt with the specifics of vaccination during special conditions, which is when a person is immunocompromised or has some other conditions health”, – noted the chief medical officer.

Let’s add

As Kuzin noted, the National Vaccination Calendar is an order of the Ministry of Health, which affects all Ukrainians, because it regulates the list of mandatory, recommended vaccinations, the vaccination scheme by age and is a very valuable document for every health worker to monitor compliance or non-compliance calendar, so updating it is a normal process.

The Ministry of Health plans to make changes to the National Vaccination Calendar from January 1, 2026. The chief sanlikar explained why it takes a year for this process.

“Vaccine is not purchased from today to tomorrow. There is a certain cycle of planning and also ordering the vaccine, at least 9 months pass even from the moment of initiation of the purchase until the vaccine can appear on the territory of the country. Therefore, in order to balance the schedule of purchase and supply, for in order to ensure a transition period for the training of doctors, to carry out the necessary explanatory work, we initiate the introduction of such changes at the beginning of this year in order to have as much time as possible in reserve for preparing for the implementation of such a calendar vaccinations,” Kuzin said.

In particular, HPV vaccination will be added to the calendar, the inactivated polio vaccine will be switched to, the hepatitis B vaccination scheme will be changed, the age for BCG and CPC vaccinations will be revised, and combined vaccines will be introduced.

The public discussion of the draft order of the Ministry of Health “On making changes to the Calendar of preventive vaccinations in Ukraine” is ongoing. The changes were developed taking into account international recommendations and based on the position of the National Technical Group of Experts on Immunoprophylaxis. Comments and suggestions can be sent to the Ministry of Health.

We will remind

100,040 people fell ill in Ukraine with SARS, flu and COVID-19 during the week from January 6 to 12, more than half of the cases — 64,997 — among children.