COVID-19 and Cancer Screening – Self-paced module

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, cervical screening was largely cancelled in Sweden; for example, in the city of Stockholm, 192 000 cervical screening appointments were cancelled during 2020. When screening was restarted, organized screening stations were not used, for fear of crowding among women waiting to be screened. Sweden had decided in 2015 to use human papillomavirus (HPV) screening, but large parts of the country were still not using it in 2020. Self-sampling had been recommended even earlier, but it was used even less. To cope with the situation, HPV-based screening using self-sampling at home was now introduced for women of all ages, and the parliament decided to eliminate cervical cancer faster by offering concomitant HPV screening and HPV vaccination. Because HPV-negative and HPV-vaccinated women have low risk, the need for screening will be lower, thus improving the ability to cope with the situation. Therefore, the severe crisis of the screening programme brought about by the pandemic actually precipitated a rapid modernization of the cervical cancer control programme.