Girls to get cancer jab

A PROGRAMME to vaccinate schoolgirls against a major cause of cervical cancer is set to resume.

It will be the fourth year of the scheme, which immunises against the human papilloma virus, blamed for causing 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.

Managers should find it easier to administer now the "catch up" programme has ended, which saw females in their later teens being offered the jab in addition to the 12 and 13-year-olds who are given it routinely.

Take-up across the Lothians has been high over the past few years, with only a handful of youngsters missing the jab for the virus, which is transmitted sexually, for a variety of ethical and cultural reasons.