An estimated 25 percent of American teenage girls received at least one dose of the Gardasil vaccine last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

In 2006, Merck & Co.’s Gardasil made headlines when it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a way to protect against cervical cancer by vaccinating against HPV, a sexually transmitted virus which can lead to cervical cancer.

The vaccine was licensed for use in girls and women aged 9 to 26. However, to be most efficient, the cervical cancer vaccine should be administered to girls before they are sexually active. About a month ago, the FDA has updated the label of the cervical cancer vaccine, adding data relating to the protection it offers against vulvar and vaginal cancers.

There are more than 100 different strains of the human papillomavirus and approximately 40 of them trigger genital infections. Of those 40, an estimated 50 percent can cause cancer. The four types of HPV that Gardasil has an effect on lead to 90 percent of genital warts and 70 percent of cervical cancer. Is spite of the more than 8,000 complaints about the vaccine that emerged, it proved to be efficient, but only regarding the prevention of those four types of the virus.

According to the first national estimate, 25.1 percent of the teen girls that participated in a survey aimed to tracking vaccination rates among 13-to-17 year olds had received at least one dose of the cervical cancer vaccine. The vaccine, manufactured by Merck, is is given in three shots over six-months.

"For a new vaccine, 25% coverage is really very good," asserted Dr. Lance Rodewald, Director of the Immunization Services Division in the National Immunization Program of the CDC.

The report was part of the second annual National Immunization Survey for Teens and the data was published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.