The UK’s Health Minister announced today that, starting in September, girls who are 12 and 13 years old can get vaccinated, although the shots won’t be mandatory. A catch-up campaign to vaccinate girls up to 18 years old will start in 2009.

“This is an exciting step towards preventing cervical cancer in the UK,” says Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s ceo. “Prevention is always better than cure and this vaccine will prevent many women from catching the human papilloma virus in the first place, potentially saving around 400 hundred lives a year,” says health minister Alan Johnson in a statement.

But which vaccine? That hasn’t been decided. Both Merck’s Gardasil and Glaxo’s Cervarix are approved in Europe and priced comparably, setting the stage for an interesting battle, since the initial contract is worth $205 million and the next one - for the follow-up campaign is estimated to be worth twice as much. The health department says the deal making has begun to ensure supplies are adequate next fall. [UPDATE: Whoops. We forgot to note that Merck's marketing partner in Europe is Sanofi-Aventis].