Cancer jab to save 30 a year

Vaccinating girls as young as 12 should eventually stop about 30 women a year dying from cervical cancer.

Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday confirmed $177 million funding over five years for the mass immunisation programme.

From September, all teenage girls born in 1990 or 1991 can get the Gardasil vaccine free from their doctor or health clinic.

Next year the programme will be introduced to girls aged between 12 and 18, most getting the vaccine from nurses at schools.

More than 300,000 young women should receive the vaccine over the next five years. The Government estimates it will save 30 lives a year in the future and says a reduction in abnormal cervical smear results will also save money.

Cancer Society health promotion manager Jan Pearson said adding the vaccine to the immunisation schedule ensured equal access. "Currently the vaccine cost of $450 to $500 is a barrier to the majority of New Zealand families."

About 200 Kiwi women developed cervical cancer every year and about 66 died of it.

Dr Pearson said the vaccine was of greatest benefit to girls who had not yet been exposed to infection through sexual activity. The young vaccination age meant a "great deal" of information and education would need to be given to parents.

The vaccine has been controversial overseas because of concerns it encourages early sexual activity. But the Health Ministry said overseas research had found no evidence of this.

Gardasil, made by Merck, was licensed for New Zealand use in July 2006 for females aged between nine and 26.

In January this year, GlaxoSmithKline's alternative Cervarix was licensed for those aged 10 to 45.

Ministry public health medicine senior adviser Alison Roberts said yesterday that Gardasil was chosen for the vaccination programme because of the extra protection it provided against genital warts.

But Cervarix's availability in New Zealand had meant an opportunity for a "competitive tender".

Gardasil's New Zealand distributor is CSL Biotherapies. New Zealand manager Mike Taylor said it had sold about 8500 doses here since September 2006. How many people had completed the course was unknown. The entire course was delivered in three doses over a six-month period.

Green Party health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said the vaccine had been linked to adverse reactions in Australia and the United States, and parents needed to be properly informed of risks.

Michael Tatley, director of the centre for adverse reactions monitoring at Otago University, said it had had seven minor reports of adverse reactions. Most involved minor reactions at the injection site, while one or two patients had reported a "general malaise" with symptoms such as tiredness and nausea. "These are things that are typical of any immunisation."

 

 

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