Schoolgirls will get cancer jab

The government is to announce that all schoolgirls in England will be vaccinated from next September against a virus that causes cervical cancer.

The move to provide the vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) will go further than the initial recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and now will not only see all girls aged 12-13 eligible for the jab but there will be a catch-up campaign up to the age of 18.

Supporters of the campaign say that it could help save hundreds of lives in the UK each year though critics fear inoculating against a sexually transmitted infection at a young age might encourage promiscuity.

The vaccination is likely to be administered in schools but the government has left it down to individual primary care trusts to be responsible for working out how to implement the vaccination programme at local level.

Similar arrangements are expected to be announced by the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government and several other European countries have also approved a vaccination programme including Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Norway, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Two vaccines have been developed, Gardasil and Cevarix, and both cost about £300 for three injections over six months in the UK.

Figures show that about 80% of sexually active women can expect to have an HPV infection at some point in their lives and it is held responsible for some 70% of cervical cancer cases which kills more than 1,100 women every year in the UK.

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