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Cervical cancer vaccine
26/10/2007
The vaccine which prevents the development of cervical cancer is to be given to thousands more teenage girls than originally planned.
The vaccine, which prevents the development of some of the strains of the Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) which can lead to cervical cancer, is to be offered to all girls who are under 18 at the start of the immunisation campaign in September next year (2008).
The Scottish Government has already announced its commitment to the routine HPV immunisation programme for girls aged around 12-13, to begin in September 2008.
A catch-up campaign for older girls will be carried out over the two to three year period from September 2008.
The exact timing and phasing of the campaign will be considered further.
The cost to the Scottish Government of the routine programme is estimated at around £9 million a year, and the catch-up campaign is estimated to cost in the region of around £36 million.
This measure will potentially protect 120,000 more teenage girls than had originally been anticipated.
Today's announcement follows recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI) on a catch-up campaign.
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon said:
"This vaccination programme represents a milestone in improving Scotland's public health and has the potential to save hundreds of lives every year.
"It is vitally important that we ensure as many women as possible are protected from developing cervical cancer. That is why we are following the JCVI's advice and running a catch-up campaign for teenage girls to make sure they don't miss out on this important vaccine.
"However, it is essential people are aware that the vaccine is most effective before women become sexually active, which is why we are offering it to teenage girls.
"Of course, this does not dilute the strong safer sex message the Scottish Government promotes to protect against developing sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.
"In addition, Scotland has a highly effective cervical screening service and for the foreseeable future the screening programme remains the best protection currently available to women."
It is planned that the catch-up campaign will run for two to three years to ensure all teenage girls who are aged 13 to 18 in September 2008 are vaccinated.
Two particular strains of HPV, known as types 16 & 18, are responsible for about 70 per cent of all cervical cancers. Some other strains of HPV also cause cervical cancer. Some other HPV strains can cause genital warts. Despite the success of the Scottish cervical screening programme, in Scotland the lifetime risk of a woman developing cervical cancer is 1 in 124. 282 new cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed in Scotland in 2004. There were 102 deaths from cervical cancer recorded in 2004 in Scotland.
The vaccine will be offered to girls and women who are up to the age of 17 and 364 days in September 2008.
The following are the key elements from the JCVI decision:
- Confirmation of the decision announced in June ie a routine immunisation programme for girls aged around 12 - 13 years
- A time limited catch up vaccination of girls aged 13-17 years is cost effective
- A catch up vaccination of women aged 18-25 years would not be cost effective but HPV vaccination could be beneficial to women in that category who were at risk of newly acquired HPV infection and mechanisms should be explored for ways of meeting such requests
The HPV vaccine protects against strains 16 and 18 which are responsible for around 70 per cent of cervical cancers.