Anti-cervical cancer vaccination in public schools set – DepEd

The Department of Education (DepEd) has announced the inclusion of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination for female Grade 4 students in all public schools nationwide as part of the School-Based Immunization Program.

Starting this school year (SY) 2017-2018 onwards, Education Secretary Leonor Briones – in DepEd Memorandum No. 173 series of 2017 – said that the HPV vaccination will be administered to girls aged 9 to 13 and currently enrolled in all public elementary schools.

Briones said that DepEd has been supporting the School-Based Immunization Program of the Department of Health (DOH) as the “government’s response to ensure prevention of morbidity and mortality of school age children due to vaccine-preventable diseases.”

Currently, the School-Based Immunization Program is implemented through the provision of vaccines against measles, rubella, tetanus and diptheria to all Grades 1 to 7 learners nationwide.

“The vaccines are provided for free and the vaccination is conducted every August as routine activity of the progam,” Briones explained.

In 2015, the DOH has introduced the HPV vaccination for girls with ages to 9-10 years old in health facilities of priority areas and cities.

This school year, all female school children enrolled in Grade 4 (ages 9-13) should be vaccinated with 2-dose of quadrivalent HPV following the DOH recommended schedule in designated immunization posts in all public schools.

All students who received the first dose of HPV shall be given the second dose after six months.

As part of general guidelines issued by DepEd, Briones reminded that “only students with parental/guardian consent shall be vaccinated.”

As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), HPV is a “group of viruses that are extremely common worldwide” and the “most common viral infection of the reproductive tract.”

WHO said that the HPV causes “cervical cancer which is the second most common cancer in women worldwide by age-standardized incidence rate (ASR).”

It also noted that in 2008, alone, “there were an estimated 529,000 new cases and 274,000 deaths due to cervical cancer [and] more than 85 % of cervical cancer deaths are in developing countries, where it accounts for 13% of all female cancers.”

In the Philippines, DOH said that cervical cancer is considered as the second leading cancer-related cause of death among Filipino women where more than 12 women die from the disease every day.

DOH revealed that more than 6,000 Filipinas are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year due to late detection and diagnosis. DOH data also showed that “almost 100 percent” of cervical cancer detected in Filipinas is caused by HPV.