Up to now the turnout for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme implemented this year in the Netherlands has been lower than expected. This may be the result of negative publicity and doubts about the efficacy of the vaccination programme. To provide some clarity about the efficacy, this article gives an overview of the cost effectiveness analyses carried out on the introduction of HPV vaccination in the Netherlands. These studies have shown that vaccination of a cohort of 12-year-old girls using the HPV vaccine may ultimately prevent per year 217-421 cases of cervical cancer and 93-173 deaths caused by this disease in the Netherlands. It has also been shown that HPV vaccination is a cost effective strategy and that about 1000 girls must be vaccinated to prevent 1 death. The actual health benefits gained by HPV vaccination are strongly dependent on vaccination coverage. It is therefore important that this remains high (85-100%).