Cervical cancer vaccine for 30,000 girls

UP TO 30,000 girls in first year in secondary school are to be offered the cervical cancer vaccine from later this year, Minister for Health Mary Harney has announced.

The Minister also announced yesterday that preparations would begin for the implementation of a new national colorectal screening service to come into effect in 2012.

This programme will be implemented on a phased basis starting with men and women aged between 60 and 69 years.

The Government faced strong criticism in 2008 after it announced that the plan to provide the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) to girls to protect against cervical cancer was being shelved because of financial constraints.

About 90 women die from cervical cancer each year.

Ms Harney said yesterday that following talks with pharmaceutical companies the cost of the vaccination programme had been “slashed”.

She said that originally the cost of introducing and administering the cervical cancer vaccination programme had been estimated at €16 million.

She maintained that following a new tender process the cost of the scheme would be €3 million this year.

However, the Minister said that there was no money available to introduce a catch-up vaccination programme for older teenage girls outside of first year in secondary school.

“The reason why this is now possible is because vaccine companies have offered substantially better prices for Ireland. An innovative tender process conducted in recent weeks by the HSE has resulted in more affordable costs to the exchequer.

“The vaccine will be offered free of charge this year for approximately 30,000 girls who are now in first year of secondary school. This is the same group of girls who would have received the vaccine under previous plans for 2009,” she said.

Ms Harney said the same group of children who had been originally earmarked to receive the vaccine when they were in sixth class in primary school last year would now receive it this year in secondary school.

“In early December before the Budget I met with the two producers of the vaccine and told them that we would like to do it as quickly as possible but that we would only contemplate doing it if the prices that they were prepared to offer were in line with what they offered in other countries.

“We have our intelligence and we know that the prices in other countries were substantially less that the prices being offered in the Irish market,” she said.

The Minister said that she envisaged that the vaccine would be administered by public health doctors and nurses who are employed by the HSE.

The adminstration of the vaccine to girls will be subject to parental consent.

Tony O’Brien, the chief executive of the National Cancer Screening Service, said that the introduction of population screening for colorectal cancer had the potential to be one of the most effective public health interventions in the history of the Irish healthcare system.

He said that in Ireland colorectal cancer was the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second most common fatal cancer among both men and women. Approximately 930 people died from colorectal cancer each year – 525 men and 405 women.

He said that in 2007 there were 2,174 cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed – 1,277 in men and 897 in women. over the last 15 years the number of cases diagnosed in Ireland had increased by approximately 20 per cent in both sexes, he said.

“One of the significant aspects of colorectal cancer screening is that it can detect pre-cancerous adenomas and is therefore a true cancer preventative health measure,” he said.

Over the next two years prior to the introduction of the programme, the NCSS and the HSE will seek to build up colonoscopy capacity in a number of hospitals around the country and provide trading for additional staff.

HOW THE SCHEMES WILL WORK

The new cervical cancer vaccine will be administered to 30,000 girls in first year in secondary school.

It will be administered in three doses and the programme will begin before the summer.

The vaccine will be administered by public health doctors employed by the HSE and by nurses.

Administration of vaccine will be subject to parental consent.

The new colorectal cancer screening programme will be effectively a self-screening service with kits to be made available from January 2012.

Initially the service will be available to men and women aged 60-69 years in all parts of the country.

The programme will be extended to everyone between 55 and 74 years on a phased basis.

The Government is aiming for a 60 per cent take-up of the service but believes that a 50 per cent rate is more realistic.