EVERY schoolgirl in the UK is set to be vaccinated against a sexually-transmitted virus which causes cervical cancer. Following successful trials of the vaccine on women in Glasgow, health chiefs are about to authorize nationwide jabs for girls as young as nine.
There is widespread medical support for a mass vaccination programme to control human papillomavirus (HPV), which is blamed for causing up to 70% of cervical cancer cases.
But the move has been fiercely resisted in other parts of the world, particularly in the US, where some parents complained that it gave children the “green light” to have sex.
The trials in Scotland, which involved 300 women aged 16 to 23, were criticized by the Catholic Church, which said they would lead to children being vaccinated. In Scotland, more than 500 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year and around 100 die.
The trials of Gardasil proved the vaccine to be highly effective against HPV, but health experts say the treatment is best administered before young women become sexually active.
The nation’s top virologists have backed the move after they were presented with the results of a wide-ranging research programme which showed that parents would not object to the drug being administered to their young daughters.
Minutes of a meeting of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, seen by Scotland on Sunday, reveal that members were given an in-depth run-down of ‘Parental Attitudes to HPV’.
The results of unpublished research into the subject revealed that: “Generally parents were very positive about vaccination to prevent cervical cancer. Most parents were aware of cervical cancer but knowledge of HPV was more limited. Some parents had raised concerns about introducing the vaccine in primary school and opinion tended towards offering it in early adolescence at secondary school.”
The committee, which advises ministers about the vaccines required to protect Britain’s children from the most perilous health threats, is believed to have recommended that the HPV jab be given to girls aged 10.
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) last month announced that its own expert committee on the vaccine had published a positive opinion and recommended it be granted a full license.
The European license application, if approved, will allow it to be used in children as young as nine and up to 26. Although in the UK, Gardasil was only trialed in women aged between 16 and 23 years old, tests in other countries have shown the vaccine to be effective in children as young as nine.
The firms behind the vaccine, Merck & Co and Sanofi Pasteur, hope EMEA will approve it by the start of October.
That would mean the vaccine was available in the UK but would require approval by the Department of Health and Scottish Executive before it could be offered in schools. A Department of Health spokesman last night confirmed an HPV vaccination programme was already under serious consideration.
Pamela Morton, from cervical cancer charity Jo’s Trust, said the drug company had acknowledged that making the product available in primary schools could be controversial.
She added: “Given some of the controversy this approach might encounter, the vaccine may instead be offered to children in their first term of secondary school.”
Recent figures from the National Cancer Intelligence Centre revealed that most regions of Scotland had rates of cervical cancer of up to a third higher than the national average. High levels of underage sex have also alarmed public health experts who fear it is helping to fuel the spread of the virus, which is transmitted by genital contact. More than 30% of girls aged 15 are already sexually active.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church last night warned health boards against using the vaccine as part of their sexual health strategies.
He said: “Our concern would be that this vaccine is seen as giving a green light to promiscuity on the grounds that the vaccination protects young people from developing the virus that is the main cause of cervical cancer.”
Drug chiefs have already met with officials at the Scottish Executive to discuss supplying the vaccine for use in Scotland. The Executive yesterday said it was unable to comment.
Roseanna Cunningham, SNP chairwoman of the Scottish Parliament’s health committee, said: “Any form of vaccination that can prevent disease should be seriously considered. I don’t believe there is a morality issue as it is an intervention against a deadly disease.”
Source: Scotland On Sunday
