The HPV vaccine is a recently developed vaccine that protects young women against human papilloma virus, a type of virus that is responsible for genital warts, Cervical cancer and other types of genital cancer. HPV is a sexually transmitted virus. There are many different strains of HPV, some of which are more likely to cause genital warts and some of which are more likely to cause cervical cancer. HPV is often asymptomatic in infected men and women, so people may not know that they are passing the disease on to their sexual partners. The HPV vaccine is designed to prevent cases of cervical cancer from cancer-causing strains, but some vaccine formulations also protect against the strains that cause genital warts.Demographics For the HPV VaccineThe vaccine for human papilloma virus is ideally given to young women before they become sexually active. The ideal age to give the HPV vaccine is 11 or 12 years old, but the vaccine can be given to women who are between the ages of 9 and 26. The HPV vaccine is not given to pregnant women of any age at this time.How is the HPV Vaccine Given?The HPV vaccine is given as a series of three injections, with one injection given every two months. It is important to receive the entire series of injections for optimum protection, because it is not known how much protection against HPV is gained from one or two injections, although the protection gained is probably better than nothing.Safety and Efficacy of the VaccineThe HPV vaccine is safe and effective at preventing HPV-related cervical cancer caused by certain prevalent strains of HPV. The vaccine prevents HPV infection with certain strains, but it does not treat infections that have already occurred. The available scientific data suggests that the immunity to HPV conferred by the vaccine does not decrease over time, so the vaccine series should be enough to protect a woman against HPV for the long term. The HPV vaccine does not protect against all possible strains of HPV, but it protects against the ones most common and most likely to cause cervical cancer.