Even as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman said the government “will encourage vaccination for girls in the age group of 9 to 14 years for the prevention of cervical cancer”, there is very little clarity on whether this would now be a part of the national immunisation programme. Last month, the health ministry, dispelling reports of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine rollout in the second quarter this year, said in a statement, “Such reports are not true. The Ministry is yet to decide on the rollout of HPV vaccination.”

HPV is a sexually transmitted infection that is responsible for almost all cases of cervical cancer. It was only last year that India`s first quadrivalent HPV vaccine, targeting the four prevalent cancer-causing HPV types—16, 18, 6, and 11—became available in the private market. Developed and manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), the vaccine costs Rs 2,000.