Catching up with the catch-up: HPV vaccination coverage data for Australian women aged 18-26 years from the National HPV Vaccination Program Register

This report describes human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage data for Australian women 18-26 years of age, as notified to the National Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Program Register. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted of notifications to the Register of HPV vaccine doses delivered as part of the National HPV Vaccination Program, which provided free catch-up vaccination to women 18-26 years of age across Australia between 2007 and 2009. HPV vaccination coverage estimates were calculated by age, state or territory of residence and dose number, using the Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates as the denominator. As at March 2011, approximately 4.49 million doses had been notified to the Register of females of all ages, and 1.7 million of these were for women aged 18-26 years in 2007. Vaccination coverage was highest for females aged 18 years and lowest in females aged 26 years. For the entire 18-26 years cohort, coverage was estimated at 55.2% for dose 1, 44.8% for dose 2 and 31.7% for dose 3. Notified dose 1 coverage rates by single year of age and state or territory ranged between 22% for females aged 26 years in the Northern Territory and 76% in females aged 18 years in Queensland, with dose 1 coverage highest across the age range in the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia. These data suggest that over half of Australian women aged 18-26 years commenced HPV vaccine courses and about one-third are fully vaccinated. Some of the differences in the coverage observed between states and territories likely reflect differing mechanisms for notifying to the Register.