IrishMedicalNews

Renewed appeal for mass cervical cancer vaccination

Written by Priscilla Lynch Monday, 30 November 2009 15:28

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Appeals that the HPV vaccination must be available for all 12-year-old girls, alongside screening to prevent cervical cancer and unnecessary suffering and death in the long-term, have been renewed ahead of Budget 2010.

The Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists in partnership with the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ISCCP), urged the Government to make provisions in the forthcoming Budget for the introduction of a mass cervical cancer (HPV) vaccination programme in a pre-Budget submission issued to the Departments of Finance and Health.

The organisations advocate that HPV vaccination should be made available for all 12-year-old girls living in Ireland in 2010 and should be rolled out alongside CervicalCheck, the national cervical screening programme. The annual cost of HPV vaccination of all 12-year-old girls was estimated at €9.7 million in 2008.

Prof Walter Prendiville, Vice President of the ISCCP and Secretary General of the International Federation for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, said: “The Institute, the ISCCP and the Irish Cancer Society is making the renewed case for mass vaccination on the principle that if our healthcare system is serious about reducing cervical cancer incidence and mortality and making significant savings in healthcare budget in the longer term, it must now introduce mass vaccination in conjunction with screening. We also know that the Minister for Health is committed to this programme as she agreed to roll it out in September 2009, but had to withdraw that commitment due to budgetary constraints.”

The submission is being made on the grounds of high rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality in Ireland, cost effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, as well as international evidence.