Nine out of ten schoolgirls get jab to beat cervical cancer

Published on Thursday 26 March 2009 21:07

MORE than nine out of ten Scottish schoolgirls eligible for a vaccine to protect them against cervical cancer have had the jab.

The first figures on uptake of the vaccine, which protects women against the human papilloma virus (HPV), showed that 92.2 per cent of girls had had the first dose, and 87.8 per cent had had the second dose, according to the figures published yesterday. The three-jab course is given over six months.

The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Dr Harry Burns, said that the results were "hugely encouraging".

The HPV vaccination campaign started in September and is targeting girls in the second, fifth and sixth years at school during its first year. Those in third and fourth years will be offered the jab from September.

Once the catch-up campaign is completed, the vaccine – which protects against two types of HPV that cause 70 per cent of cervical cancers – will be routinely offered to children aged 12 to 13.

Yesterday's figures showed uptake rates for the first dose ranged from 88.9 per cent in Ayrshire and Arran to 95.2 per cent in the Borders.

Dr Burns said a "very small" number of girls would choose not to have the jab, sometimes for religious reasons.

Some girls may not have received the jab because they left the school after the start of the academic year and will need to be picked up in a catch-up campaign for those no longer in education.

Dr Burns said: "We have asked health boards to put arrangements in place to follow up kids who have left school."

The British Medical Association has previously raised concerns that the campaign for school leavers may be hampered because it was left to boards to put their own measures in place, rather than being negotiated nationally. This could lead to delays in girls receiving the jab.

Yesterday, during a visit to Broughton High School in Edinburgh, Dr Burns saw girls receiving the jab.

Among them were twins Amy and Sinead Leach, 16, who praised the scheme. Amy said: "This is something that can help avoid cancer which is a pretty huge thing to happen. It's a really great opportunity."

Another pupil, Rachel Small, 16, said the death of reality TV star Jade Goody had encouraged young people to talk about cervical cancer and realise the importance of being vaccinated. "You think of it as an old person's cancer and obviously if someone that young has got it, you realise it can affect all of us," she said.

The girls dismissed suggestions that as the jab protects against HPV – a sexually transmitted infection – it could encourage underage sex. Sinead said: "That is just ridiculous. It is just a sad fact of life that some 12-year-olds have sex."

Headteacher Lesley Johnston said that some may not have had the jab because they went to their GP with their parents, rather than receiving it in school, or because of religious reasons.