It is a vaccine that is being given to women across India, but studies show the cervical cancer vaccine is hopelessly inadequate.
Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer among women in India. So when vaccines hit the market, there was hope that women could now be protected from the disease.
However doubts are now being raised whether the vaccines will actually work for Indian women.
Being pushed aggressively in the private market, many believe it is creating a sense of false hope.
At highest risk of cervical cancer are women over 50. However, both the available vaccines are most effective in adolescents and women under 26. So far, there is no data on how much protection they provide to older women.
"In India there are 7-8 types that are prevalent. We don't have any real data. Actually we don't know the magnitude of pockets. We just have patchy information from a few hospitals. The problem is there. But how much in a particular area, we don't know. And how much it's going to benefit a particular person we don't know. So certainly when you say as an ICMR chief what I can talk about, I can say I am not confident in recommending anything," said Dr V M Katoch, DG, Indian Council of Medical Research.
Despite this, over 16,000 girls in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are being given the cervical cancer vaccine. But it isn't clear if they are being tracked for side effects.
Till now no side effects have been reported here but in countries like Spain and the US, several women have reported fainting spells, nausea and deaths.
Health activists also warn that these vaccines don't guarantee full protection from cancer.
