In 2008, universal vaccination of young teenage girls against the sexually-transmitted disease, human papillomavirus (HPV or genital warts), was introduced in Australia. The justification for this massive health intervention was that HPV has been associated with cervical cancer. Most HPV infections do not lead to cancer, and the majority of infections resolve spontaneously (98 per cent within two years). The cancer association is only with very long-term or repeated and untreated …
