The British government has announced that all English girls aged 12 to 13 are to be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer.
From next autumn, girls will receive three injections at school over six months in a move that could save up to 400 lives each year, the British department of health said today.
Teenagers up to 18 will also be vaccinated during a one-off programme lasting two years. The scheme is also expected to be adopted in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The move is a boost for drug makers Merck & Co and Sanofi-Aventis, which market the vaccine Gardasil. GlaxoSmithKline offers another cervical cancer vaccine, Cervarix.
Gardasil and Cervarix work by cutting the risk of infection with human papillomavirus, which causes pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions, as well as genital warts.
The department has not decided which drug it will buy but said it was unlikely that it would use both at the same time.
Britain is the latest European country to offer the vaccine to girls, following similar moves by Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Norway.