City asks parents to avail of free HPV vaccine for students

THE LOCAL government seeks the cooperation of parents to take advantage of the free Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccines being given to students in public schools.

The City Health Office (CHO) will prioritize public schools in the massive vaccination while private schools can also request for the government-sponsored vaccination activity. The said vaccine helps protect against certain types of HPV that can lead to cancer or genital warts, hence, women should get the vaccine to avoid cervical cancer.

City Health Office chief Dr. Josephine Villafuerte appealed to all parents to allow their daughters aged 9 years of age and above to be vaccinated for free. “It is better if the parents will give consent that their children will be injected with the HPV vaccine, especially that we are doing this for free. This vaccine is expensive in private hospitals,” she said. She explained that city health team will only administer the vaccine to those who would submit their parent’s consent. “We cannot vaccinate the children unless they have a consent form. We are trying to let the parents understand that the HPV vaccine is safe for their children,” she said. According to Villafuerte, CHO will later announce the scheduled activities. The HPV is identified as a major cause of cervical cancer in women. In the Philippines, 6,670 cervical cancer cases are diagnosed annually causing the death of 12 Filipino women every day.

The CHO explained that the HPV vaccination is given to the age group before sexual exposure as it poses a higher protection against cervical cancer.