8:00am Friday 5th September 2008
By Mark Stead
SCHOOLGIRLS as young as 12 are to be offered a controversial cervical cancer jab in York and North Yorkshire.
The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine is to be rolled out across the region by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the Humber Health Protection Unit to offer protection to Year 8 pupils through a school-based programme during the current academic year.
It will also be extended to vaccinate 17 and 18-year-old girls through their local primary care services, which health chiefs say will defend an extra 300,000 teenagers in the UK.
But opponents of the vaccine claim it will encourage promiscuity among underage girls and the money earmarked for it should instead be spent on life-saving medicine and improving sex education. HPV, transmitted through sexual intercourse, is the main cause of cervical cancer, but about 70 per of cases are caused by strains which the vaccine protects against. All 12 and 13-year-old girls in North Yorkshire will now be offered the jab.
Kate Lloyd, the PCT’s senior public health nurse, said: “The PCT will continue to work closely with local schools and our healthcare colleagues to ensure the girls, their parents and families are fully aware of how to access this vaccination programme”.
“The cervical screening programme will continue for all women after the HPV vaccine has been introduced, because it does not protect against all HPV types which may cause cervical cancer. Both women who have been vaccinated and women not covered by the programme will still be routinely invited for cervical screening, and there will also be a two-year catch-up campaign for girls aged 14-17 offered in autumn 2009 and 2010.”
York GP Dr David Fair said: “It’s about time it was introduced, but it’s disappointing that the recommended vaccine option is the cheaper one which doesn't cover all the organisms causing cervical cancer, and there are also very rigid rules about when it is administered. However, I’m pleased it’s being rolled out because it will save a lot of girls a lot of problems, and I don’t believe it will make any difference whatsoever to teenage sexual behaviour.”
But father-of-three Graham Taylor, a North Yorkshire author and former vicar, said: “I won’t let my ten-year-old daughter have this vaccine. It’s telling young girls that they can have numerous sexual partners without the risk of cervical cancer, which will put more pressure on the health service by people having children at a younger and younger age.”
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