Cervical Cancer Vaccine - NYTimes.com Re "Cancer Vaccines Get a Price Cut in Poor Nations" (front page, May 10): The recent decision to cut the price of vaccines to protect against the most important cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, should be applauded, but the ultimate success of the effort depends on more than access. If this financial agreement is going to be translated into cancers prevented and lives saved, girls and women will need insurance coverage, the full complement of doses and long-term protection after vaccination. Attaining these goals will require commitments by local governments to put the proper infrastructure in place, in regions where disease burden is greatest. Furthermore, access and infrastructure must be sustainable to avoid truncated benefits. Millions of women are already infected with HPV and will not benefit from vaccination. What they need is access to high-quality screening and treatment services, inclusive of surgery and radiation therapy. We can only hope that the recent action by our corporate-sector partners generates increased momentum for local public policy decisions that lead to a comprehensive approach to a disease whose continued existence represents the largest public health failure in global women's health. The writer, a gynecologic oncologist, is director of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Program, Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia.