| A ´wonder drug´ to beat cervical cancer has proved almost 100 per cent successful in trials.
Gardasil blocked the two major strains of a virus which cause most cases of the disease, tests involving more than 12,000 women showed.
The results prompted health campaigners to call on the Government to make the vaccine readily available for girls in secondary schools.
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However, critics have warned such a move will only encourage sexual promiscuity in the young.
In the latest research, women aged between 15 and 26, from 13 countries, were monitored for three years. The vaccine was 98 per cent successful in targeting two strains of the human papilloma virus and preventing pre-cancerous changes which can lead to the disease.
In nine out of ten women, it also blocked two other strains of the virus which cause genital warts.
US researcher Dr Kevin Ault said: ´Severe reactions to the vaccine appear to be rare.´
His team´s findings confirm those of Australian researchers who tested more than 5,450 women.
Writing in the New England Journal Of Medicine, two experts said: ´Investigators in these trials have hit their mark soundly.´
Gardasil was approved for females aged nine to 26 by the EU in September but is available only privately in Britain. The jabs are most effective when given before a girl becomes sexually active.
Cervical cancer charity Jo´s Trust wants a nationwide programme of vaccination in secondary schools launched by the end of the year.
´This new data is a significant breakthrough,´ it said.
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