evidence: Although vaccines undoubtedly reduce the incidence of several infectious diseases, which strongly supports that the benefits outweigh the risks, side effects still need to be closely monitored and reported without bias. For HPV vaccines, the body of evidence suggests that their potential to elicit life-threatening side effects is very low with autoimmune responses being the greatest concern. While the reduction in the occurrence of genital warts conferred by the HPV types present in the vaccines strongly suggests an ultimately lower incidence of HPV-positive cancers, the time period since the initial vaccinations has not been sufficient to determine the absolute reduction in cervical cancer, the major benefit expected. For this reason, it is important to stress the need to maintain routine surveillance for lower genital tract diseases especially in women, even if there is widespread use of the HPV vaccine.