The drop in the number of Irish girls receiving the HPV vaccine has steadied, but health officials are still worried.

 

The percentage of teenage girls receiving the cervical cancer vaccine, known as Gardasil, in Cork and Kerry has risen to 50 per cent, from 45 per cent last year. This is according to the HSE, which has routinely expressed concern over the drop in rates for the free vaccine offered to secondary school girls. 

 

“This is good news, though it’s far too early to say we’ve turned the corner,” said Dr Breda Corcoran, head of the HSE's national immunisation office.

 

This follows advocacy groups that claim the vaccine - which covers the human papillomavirus - has caused serious illness in young girls. 

 

 

One such group that has urged parents to think twice about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is R.E.G.R.E.T. Their website says, “R.E.G.R.E.T. Support Group was set up by parents of Irish teenage girls who have developed serious health problems after entering secondary school. These parents are certain that the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) is the cause of their daughters' otherwise unexplained illness."

 

Robb Butler is the Head of Immunisation at the WHO’s European branch. He welcomed the most recent data, which showed that the number of vaccinations had stabilised, but that the steep decline in uptake after a public campaign against it was “alarming”.

 

“The victims of the decisions made today will be those whose families are affected by cervical cancer that could have been prevented,” Mr Butler told a HSE conference in Dublin, on Thursday.

 

However, the World Health Organisation is still concerned about Ireland's attitude to disease prevention. The most recent HSE figures show that the national uptake of at least HPV stage 2 vaccines fell from 86.9 per cent in 2014/2015, to 73.2 the following year.

 

 

“It is particularly alarming, given Ireland boasted the world’s most successful HPV vaccination programmes globally, just a few years ago," Butler said. We in the WHO stand with the many health bodies and agencies in Ireland in their ongoing efforts to see this worrisome trend reversed and the campaign of misinformation ceased.

 

Dr Ann Hogan is the President of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO). She said these numbers were encouraging, but the number of girls receiving the vaccine needed to return to its highest uptake level of over 85 per cent un 2014/2015. 

 

"“We are a long way away from achieving the uptake we need for a successful vaccinations programme. The next vaccination phase in our schools will be September so it is incumbent on clinicians and everyone involved to get the message out there between now and September that the HPV vaccination saves lives.”

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