Scientific Evaluation of the Court Evidence Submitted to the 2019 Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Libel Case and Its Decision in Japan

HPV VACCINE LIBEL CASEPublic anxiety over HPV vaccination was amplified by the experimental findings that were presented to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) of the Japanese government, on March 16, 2016 by Dr. Shuichi Ikeda, principal investigator of the research team funded by MHLW who investigated potential nerve injury following HPV vaccination.In July 2016, a class-action lawsuit against the Japanese government asking for compensation for the damage purportedly caused by the HPV vaccine was filed; this lawsuit is still ongoing.The "temporary" suspension of the proactive recommendation for the HPV vaccines will have been in effect for 7 years as of June, 2020.Although evidence for the safety of this vaccine has been recognized internationally (6, 7), the HPV vaccination rate in Japan remains below 1%, thus placing coming generations of young Japanese women at unnecessary risk of cervical cancer in the future.