Thousands missing cancer vaccine
MORE than a thousand girls in Cheshire remain unprotected from cervical cancer.
New figures published by Public Health England show uptake of a vaccine that gives girls protection from the human papilloma virus (HPV).
The virus is known to cause cervical cancer, and is the leading cause of death in women aged under 35 in the UK and two doses are needed to give full protection, and girls are offered the first vaccination when they’re in Year 8 with most students receiving their second dose in Year 9.
Figures show 12,113 girls in Cheshire aged between 12 and 14 should have had at least one dose of the vaccine in 2018/19.
But 1,042 of those girls hadn’t – leaving them unprotected against the virus. That works out as a rate of nearly one in every 10 girls, or 8.6%.
The rate was highest in Cheshire East (10.0%) and lowest in Cheshire West And Chester (6.7%).
The second dose is usually offered six to 12 months after the first and all Year 9 girls should have had both by the end of that academic year. There were 6,029 Year 9 girls across Cheshire in 2018/19 – some 695 had not received both doses of the vaccine by the end of the school year.
In September this year the HPV vaccine was rolled out to boys across Year 8, too because the virus can also cause head and neck cancers as well as penile and anal cancer. Men and women can contract HPV by having unprotected sex with an infected partner – so vaccinating boys can also help prevent the virus from spreading.
Robert Music, chief executive, Jo’s Cervical
Cancer Trust, said it was positive that HPV vaccine uptake remains high.
“It is an extremely effective vaccine that will prevent many from going through a cervical cancer diagnosis, which will ultimately save lives,” he said. Yet we are faced with wide variation in uptake across England meaning many young women will not benefit. There is much targeted work to do to close the gap, and we must look at reaching communities where awareness and uptake is particularly low.
“It’s important that young people are aware that if they didn’t take up their vaccine invite and are still under 25 they can still get vaccinated at their GP.”
Across England there were 622,320 girls in Year 8 and 9 eligible for the vaccine – but 71,937 were yet to receive their first dose.
In Year 9 specifically, 308,378 girls should have had both doses by the end of the academic year but the data reveals that nearly one in six - or 49,593 - had not.