A US Government panel on Thursday recommended that girls as young as 11 and young women up to age 26 should be able to get a new vaccine against cervical cancer.

In a complicated vote, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices agreed to recommend the vaccine for three groups -- all young girls aged 11 and 12; girls and women aged 13 to 26 who have not received the vaccine yet; and women who have had abnormal pap smears, genital warts, or certain other conditions.

The vaccine, known as Gardasil, prevents infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus known to cause most cervical cancers and genital warts.

Gardasil blocks the two types of HPV that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

Gardasil is administered in a series of inoculations. After the first of the US$120 shots is given, the patient waits two months for the second shot and then gets the third at six months. No one knows how long the US$360 immunization effort is effective, but clinical trials suggest that protection remains in place after four years.

Health officials estimate that more than half of sexually active women and men will be infected with one or more types of HPV in their lifetimes.

The American Cancer Society estimates that invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in about 10,000 women in the US in 2006, and about 3,700 women will die from the disease.