Schoolgirls as young as nine could be given a controversial vaccine to protect them against a virus which causes cervical cancer, it emerged yesterday.
But the vaccine is causing controversy, with Scots church leaders condemning the move as giving the “green light” to under-age sex. The jab has been resisted in other countries, most notably the US, because of such concerns.
Successful trials of Gardisal, which immunises young women against human papillomavirus (HPV), have been completed in Glasgow and the drug is now set to be administered across Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Research presented to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation suggested that parents backed the introduction of the drug, but Gardisal still needs the approval of the Department of Health and the Scottish Executive before it can be provided in schools. Pharmaceutical firms Merck and Co and Sanofi Pasteur are believed to have already met the executive for talks about introducing the drug.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: “Our concern would be that this vaccine is seen as giving the green light to promiscuity on the grounds that the vaccine protects young people from developing the virus that is the main cause of cervical cancer.”
But with the rates of cervical cancer in some part of Scotland as much as a third higher than the national average, Scots politicians have welcomed the new jab.
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 because it is an intervention against a deadly disease.”
An executive spokesman added: “We are aware of the vaccine and the clinical trials which have taken place. No decision has yet been made about its use in Scotland.”
Gardisal has been tested on 300 women aged between 16 and 23 in Glasgow, and research in other countries suggests it is most effective when it is administered to young women before they become sexually active.
