Fears raised over HPV jab

Delivered in two doses several months apart, the HPV vaccine aims to protect girls from the two strains responsible for about 70 percent of all cervical cancers.

Delivered in two doses several months apart, the HPV vaccine aims to protect girls from the two strains responsible for about 70 percent of all cervical cancers.

Published Mar 12, 2014

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Johannesburg - The departments of health and basic education have launched a national campaign to vaccinate girls nine years and older against cervical cancer.

But critics are asking why boys are not being offered the jab.

Launched at Bloemfontein’s Gonyane Primary School on Wednesday, the national campaign aims to vaccinate all Grade 4 girls older than 9 against the human papilloma virus (HPV).

HPV is a common virus spread mostly by sexual contact.

Almost all sexually active people will contract HPV at some point, but most infections will disappear.

However, certain HPV strains can lead to cancers of the cervix, mouth, throat and – in men – the penis.

Delivered in two doses several months apart, the HPV vaccine aims to protect girls from the two strains responsible for about 70 percent of all cervical cancers.

Girls will receive an initial dose now and a follow-up dose in September and October, according to a Department of Health statement.

Cervical cancer is the second most common form of cancer among women and is six times as likely to develop in HIV-positive women, according to international research.

For the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), cervical cancer is high on its agenda in the run-up to elections.

But the TAC is concerned that some schools may be unprepared for the rollout after members found that some did not know about it, according to the TAC’s national women’s representative, Portia Serote.

She also expressed concerns about the roll-out being limited to younger, school-going girls and excluding boys.

“Pharmaceutical companies say girls and boys from the age of nine up to 25 can be given the vaccine,” said Serote. “So what is happening to boys – who are carriers of HPV – and girls that don’t fall in that group (or) children living in undeveloped areas where there are no schools?”

International bodies such as the World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control recommend the HPV vaccine for girls and boys. The Cancer Association of South Africa has also recommended the HPV vaccine for men up to the age of 26, particularly for those having sex with men and with compromised immune systems who may be at an increased risk of some cancers.

 

But unless vaccine prices drop, South Africa is unlikely to expand the public campaign to young men, according to Western Cape Department of Health spokeswoman Jo-Anne Otto.

“For the moment we are offering the best protection with what we can afford,” said Otto, who added that the rollout continued to focus on girls until it is evaluated in three years’ time. – Health-e News Service, with additional reporting by Laura Lopez Gonzalez

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