A comprehensive Finnish study provides strong evidence that HPV vaccination in adolescence does not increase the risk of miscarriage or early pregnancy complications, reinforcing global safety reassurance.
A long-term Finnish study has added to evidence that human papillomavirus vaccination does not raise the risk of miscarriage or other early pregnancy complications, whether the jab is given in early adolescence or later as catch-up vaccination.
Researchers followed more than 39,000 women through national registry data and compared pregnancy outcomes in those who had received HPV vaccine with those who had not. The cohort included women born between 1992 and 1995 who took part in a community-randomised vaccination trial in 2007, as well as an older unvaccinated control group born between 1990 and 1991. Some participants who initially received hepatitis B vaccine were later given HPV vaccine at 18.5 years and were classed as cross-vaccinated.
After 11 years of follow-up, miscarriage rates were low across the vaccinated groups. The study found no miscarriages in the first six years after vaccination at ages 12 to 15, and no early signal of harm among those who were cross-vaccinated later in adolescence. Ectopic pregnancy rates were also similar across groups. The findings were published on 12 August 2026 in the European Journal of Public Health and led by Tiina Koivisto of Tampere University.
The Finnish results fit with a broader body of research that has repeatedly found no link between HPV vaccination and adverse pregnancy outcomes. A systematic review and meta-analysis in PubMed found no meaningful increase in miscarriage, birth defects, stillbirth, preterm birth or ectopic pregnancy after periconceptional or pregnancy exposure to HPV vaccine. Earlier pooled trial data and subsequent reviews have reached the same conclusion, and the World Health Organization’s vaccine safety advisers have said they found no safety concerns relating to HPV vaccination during pregnancy.
The new study does have limits. The vaccinated and unvaccinated women may not have been identical in health awareness or other background factors, and the registry data did not include lifestyle information such as smoking, alcohol use, body mass index or contraceptive use. Even so, the authors said their findings offer further reassurance about the reproductive safety of HPV vaccination in adolescence, including catch-up doses in later teenage years.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
