More teen girls to get cancer vaccine
HUNDREDS more teenagers are to be offered a vaccine against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
The Government announced in July that girls aged 12 to 13 would be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted infection human papilloma virus, in a programme that aims to save 400 lives a year.
North Staffordshire PCT has secured £43,000 from the Department of Health to offer the injection to an extra 1,374 young women aged 17 and 18 across Newcastle and the Staffordshire Moorlands.
It will coincide with a two-year 'catch up' programme which will start in the school year 2009/10 to vaccinate girls aged 15 to 18.
The announcement means that young women, who were born between September 1, 1990 and August 31, 1991, will now be vaccinated this school year. These women would have just missed out on the catch-up programme as they would be too old by the time it starts in 2009/10.
Jan Butterworth, head of clinical effectiveness at NHS North Staffordshire, said: "We are very pleased to commence this vital programme of vaccination for protection against cervical cancer, which will have long-term health benefits for our local population."
The vaccinations will be supplied free of charge and should be completed by August 31 next year.
HPV causes an estimated 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer, which kills more than 1,000 women each year.
It is extremely common, with 80 per cent of women contracting some form of it by the age of 50. It is most extreme among sexually active females aged 18 to 28. In most people the infection will clear up on its own, but some will have continued infection and it is possible to be re-infected.
Cathy Green will soon be administering the HPV vaccine to girls in her role as a nurse in Bradeley and Kidsgrove.
She knows all about the dangers of cervical cancer, having been given the all-clear two years ago, after being diagnosed with the disease at the age of 35. She is full of praise for North Staffordshire PCT for extending its vaccination programme.
Cathy, aged 42, from Wood Lane, Newcastle, said: "It's really good that the PCT are being proactive in vaccinating these girls. Cervical cancer is not something girls think about when they are having sex for the first time. So it's very important this extra money."
Participating GPs will be asked to identify the group of 17 and 18-year-old women from their register, send them a letter and deliver the three dose course of cervarix over a six-month period.
By the end of the 'catch up', all girls under 18 will have been offered the HPV vaccine.
Paul Farrelly, MP for Newcastle, welcomed the scheme. He said: "I'm delighted that the PCT has moved so quickly on this latest Government initiative.
"Cervical cancer is a big killer and to have a vaccine means no more heartbreak for women and families in the future.
"Hopefully schools and colleges will play a great role in making this a success.
"What's really important is that all school leavers, too, get in touch with their GP to get this vaccine."
More than 2,900 women aged 17 and 18 in the Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT area, which includes Crewe and Nantwich and Congleton, will also receive the HPV vaccination this year, thanks to £91,000 of extra funding. This will be in addition to the 2,762 Year 8 schoolgirls who will be receiving the vaccine this school year.
Stoke-on-Trent PCT will be starting its catch-up programme for under-18s next year.
3 Comments
by Michelle, Stoke Area
Thursday, September 25 2008, 1:53PM
“I think this is a great idea if it could sve 400 11 to 16 year old girls lives a year and a further 400 for 17 to 18 years old. Having Cancer in our family I would have my daughter have the vaccine if it gave her a better chance than she has now. How do we look in to this further do we visit our local doctor???”
by helen, Cheadle
Tuesday, September 23 2008, 2:36PM
“Well Nicky in an ideal world I would have agreed with you but we don't live in an ideal world and with all the underage mothers that this country has I can see why the decision to give the injection from 12 was taken it must be better for them even if they end up with a booster than to get cervical cancer!!!!!!! and this is not condoning under age sex just excepting that some times it happens and it is better to protect than treat. I would also guess it is cheaper to give injections to.”
by Nicky Davis, Trentham
Tuesday, September 23 2008, 11:32AM
“This looks to be a good vaccine and it seems sensible for young women in their late teens to have it.
However the timing is just wrong for 12 year olds to be getting it.
If you read the information pack obtainable from the relevant web address and the relevant articles in the Lancet (not just the silly condescending little leaflet that gets handed out that tells you virtually nothing), you find that the studies on this vaccine can not guarantee it retains its effectiveness beyond a 6 year duration. Of course it may do, but at this stage it is simply not known.
Also, if there are clinical trials on girls under 16, I havn't found them, as the studies I've seen published cover age 16 and older. I expect it is fairly unlikely that effectiveness or side effects are much different for girls a few years younger, but I can not know for sure.
We know that the health officials do not always know as much as they pretend to when vaccines are first introduced. At the time when my elder child had his first MMR it was confidently asserted that this was the one and only dose he would ever need. Then a few years later we were called in for a booster, they had been wrong, they'd found one dose was not enough. So who knows for sure whether this one 3 dose course of HPV vaccine will continue to be effective beyond 6 years, it is too soon to say.
HPV is sexually transmitted. So suppose a 12 year old gets vaccinated now and suppose it is only effective for 6 years. For the first 4 years before the age of consent it is unnecessary and may be unnecessary for longer than this. So what a waste of money. The 6 years expires when the young woman is 18. That's the time she may be going off to uni, a time when the 'opportunity' to pick up the virus is maximised but the vaccine may no longer be effective. Even for those who don't go to uni, I would have thought the late teens to early 20s would be a time when protection is most needed.
So it would seem far more sensible to administer these doses of vaccine at age 15. This caters for those who choose intimate relationships from the age of consent but also provides protection covering the important 'university' years.”