Background The Netherlands is one of few countries worldwide which has used the bivalent HPV vaccine for girls-only for over a decade. This allows assessment of vaccine effectiveness (VE) against female genital HPV DNA-positivity of this vaccine in an observational post-licencing real-world setting. Additionally, it is unclear whether catch-up vaccination campaigns result in similar VE as routine vaccination. Therefore, type-specific and grouped VE were assessed and compared for women who had been eligible for catch-up vaccination at 13–16 years with those who had been eligible for routine vaccination at 12 years. Methods PASSYON is a Dutch biennial repeated cross-sectional (2011–2021) study among sexual health clinic clients aged 16–24 years old. Women provided self-collected vaginal samples, questionnaires on demographics and sexual behaviour were administered, and women self-reported HPV vaccination status. Samples were analysed using a PCR-based assay (SPF10-LiPA25). Type-specific