UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — India Administers 80 Lakh HPV Vaccine Doses, Marking Major Milestone in Cervical Cancer Prevention

Q1. The nationwide HPV vaccination drive through which India pursues the vaccination limb of the WHO 90–70–90 elimination targets is operationalised by which one of the following?

  • A. The Department of Biotechnology, which alone clears every vaccine for public rollout through BIRAC
  • B. The National Health Authority, which solely finances all vaccine procurement under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY
  • C. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, through the Universal Immunization Programme and State health departments
  • D. The Indian Council of Medical Research, which exclusively runs all State-level immunisation drives

Q2. In the context of HPV vaccines, the term 'cross-protection' refers to which one of the following?

  • A. Reduced risk of infection among unvaccinated girls that follows from lowered transmission in a largely vaccinated population
  • B. Immunity conferred against certain oncogenic HPV types whose virus-like particles are not contained in the vaccine formulation
  • C. Protection against both cervical and non-cervical malignancies attributable to the very HPV types contained in the vaccine
  • D. Passive immunity transferred from a vaccinated mother to her infant against the HPV types she was vaccinated against

Q3. Consider the following statements regarding human papillomavirus and the vaccines against it: Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. HPV types 16 and 18 together account for about 70% of cervical cancer cases worldwide
  2. The quadrivalent vaccine used in India's national campaign additionally targets HPV types 6 and 11, which cause most cases of genital warts
  3. A bivalent HPV vaccine contains virus-like particles of HPV types 6 and 11
  4. The WHO Position Paper of December 2022 endorsed a single-dose schedule as an effective option for girls aged 9–20 years
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 3 only
  • C. 3 and 4
  • D. 2 and 4

Q4. The single-dose schedule adopted for India's national HPV vaccination programme rests on the recommendation of which one of the following?

  • A. The World Health Assembly resolution of 2020 adopting the global cervical cancer elimination strategy
  • B. The Drugs Controller General of India's market authorisation granted to CERVAVAC in 2022
  • C. The International Agency for Research on Cancer's handbook on cervical cancer screening methods
  • D. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization of the WHO, in its 2022 conclusion

Q5. Consider the following statements regarding the National HPV Vaccination Campaign launched in February 2026: Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. It was launched from Ajmer in Rajasthan and targets about 1.15 crore girls aged 14 years every year across all States and Union Territories
  2. The vaccine is given free of cost at government facilities including Ayushman Arogya Mandirs–Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres, District Hospitals and Government Medical Colleges
  3. Vaccination is compulsory for every girl in the eligible age cohort, with registration on the U-WIN platform
  4. After the initial three-month mission-mode phase, the vaccine continues to be available on routine immunization days
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 3
  • C. 3 only
  • D. 3 and 4

Q6. The number of vaccine-preventable diseases currently covered under India's Universal Immunization Programme, and the year in which that programme came into being, are respectively:

  • A. 11 diseases and 1978
  • B. 12 diseases and 1985
  • C. 12 diseases and 1992
  • D. 10 diseases and 1985

Q7. Consider the following statements comparing Mission Indradhanush with the Universal Immunization Programme: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Mission Indradhanush, launched in 2014, is a catch-up campaign operating within the Universal Immunization Programme to reach unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and pregnant women
  2. Unlike the Universal Immunization Programme, Mission Indradhanush is implemented by the National Health Authority rather than by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
  3. Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine and Measles-Rubella vaccine were added to the Universal Immunization Programme in 2017, whereas Rotavirus Vaccine was introduced in 2016
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q8. Consider the following statements about India's cervical cancer burden relative to global benchmarks: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. As per WHO GLOBOCAN 2022 estimates, India records roughly 1.2 lakh new cervical cancer cases and about 80,000 deaths from the disease annually
  2. India's programme immunises an annual cohort of about 1.15 crore girls aged 14 years with a single dose, whereas WHO's vaccination target is framed in terms of girls fully vaccinated by 15 years of age
  3. With this programme India became one of fewer than twenty countries to have introduced HPV vaccination into a national immunisation schedule
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q9. Consider the following statements about cervical cancer: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in India
  2. Persistent infection with the high-risk HPV types 16 and 18 is the principal cause of cervical cancer
  3. WHO treats cervical cancer as eliminated as a public health problem when incidence falls below a threshold of 4 per 100,000 women-years
  4. Cervical cancer accounts for the largest number of cancer deaths among Indian women, ahead of breast cancer
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 2, 3 and 4
  • C. 1 and 4 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q10. CERVAVAC, frequently referred to in discussions on cervical cancer prevention in India, is best described as which one of the following?

  • A. A bivalent HPV vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech and rolled out under the Mission COVID Suraksha initiative
  • B. A national registry of cervical cancer cases maintained by the ICMR–National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research
  • C. India's first indigenously developed quadrivalent HPV vaccine, made by the Serum Institute of India, Pune
  • D. A point-of-care HPV DNA screening kit approved for community-level use in the National Programme for Non-Communicable Diseases

Q11. The National Health Mission, the Centrally Sponsored Scheme through which immunisation and other health interventions are financed in the States, follows a defined Centre–State funding pattern. Consider the following: Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

  1. 60:40 for States other than the North-Eastern and Himalayan States
  2. 90:10 for the North-Eastern and Himalayan States
  3. 100% central funding for Union Territories without a legislature
  4. 50:50 for the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry
  • A. 4 only
  • B. 1 and 4
  • C. 2 only
  • D. 3 and 4