THE NATIONAL IMMUNISATION Advisory Committee (NIAC) has been asked by the Minister for Health to give advice on a ‘catch-up’ programme for young people who missed out on the HPV vaccine, The Journal understands.

NIAC has also been asked to advise on the benefits of such a rollout for women aged up to 25 years old.

Minister Stephen Donnelly told his Cabinet colleagues that he would like to give young people who missed out on the vaccine the option to get it for free now.

To get the HPV vaccine through a GP clinic costs around €200 per dose, with two doses needed for teenagers aged 15 and under, and three doses needed for those older than that.

Under the State’s HPV vaccination programme, administered in schools to those who opt in, teenagers aged from 12 to 13 and in first year of school get the vaccination for free.

It’s understood that NIAC has been asked to make a recommendation on the possible benefits of a catch-up programme for two groups:

• Girls and boys in secondary school who were eligible to receive the HPV vaccine in first year, but did not receive it; and
• Women aged 25 years and younger who left secondary school without receiving the vaccine when they were eligible for it.

The State’s HPV vaccine programme has not been administered in schools as usual for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

If NIAC were to approve a catch-up programme for these groups, it’s as-of-yet unclear when it would take place or how it would be carried out. 

HPV is very common virus, and the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide. Most HPV infections have no noticeable symptoms and over 90% are cleared by the body’s immune system.

But in some cases, particularly as you get older, HPV can develop into cancer in both men and women.

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The HPV vaccine is particularly effective as a preventative measure against women developing cervical cancer: a recent study found that cervical cancer rates are 87% lower in women who have had the Cervarix HPV vaccine between the ages of 12-13 than in previous generations.

The HPV vaccine, combined with a free cervical cancer screening programme, is hoped to be an effective measure at eliminating cervical cancer among a population.

The HPV vaccination programme has been available for girls since 2010; the programme was rolled out for boys in 2019, after uptake rates for young girls fell due to misinformation spread online.

The vaccine programme is scheduled for the first dose to be administered to first years in September, and the second dose in April, but if your son or daughter missed out then, you can get your first, second or third dose whenever the immunology team is back at the school. You can contact the HSE Helpline here about it: 1850 24 1850.