Call to let pharmacists give HPV vaccine after worrying drop in uptake of cervical cancer jab

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Brendan Kelly Palenque

March 30 2021 02:12 PM

Pharmacists should mobilise quickly to administer the HPV vaccine after a sharp drop off in the vaccinations last year, the Irish Pharmacy Union has said today.

Students who received their first dose of the vaccine which protects girls against cervical cancer fell from 80pc in 2019, to just 53.6pc in 2020.

According to the union, school closures and the redeployment of school vaccination teams to Covid-19 vaccine roll-out centres have interrupted school HPV vaccination programmes.

IPU secretary general Darragh O’Loughlin has called for the situation to be immediately addressed, saying: “The fall off in students receiving the HPV vaccination last year is deeply concerning and I have urged the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly to allow pharmacists to administer the HPV vaccine immediately.

“We urgently need to administer the HPV vaccine to the 50% of our young people who risk being left behind.”

Mr O’Loughlin added that pharmacists are trained and experienced vaccinators and have consultation rooms at the ready.

“They have been vaccinating people against the flu for the last decade, with more than 300,000 flu vaccines having been administered by pharmacists in a six-week period last October and November,” he said.

“Given that the HSE has not yet decided when pharmacies will commence Covid-19 vaccination, this vaccination resource is available right now. Allow pharmacists to help protect our future generations from the morbidity and mortality caused by cervical cancer and other cancers related to HPV.”

Around 300 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in Ireland with more than nine in ten cervical cancer diagnoses from HPV infections, leading to around 90 deaths every year.

The vaccine, which is given around the age of 11, also protect boys against certain cancers and has been offered to them too in Ireland since 2019.

Mr O’Loughlin said that last year’s rates of HPV were particularly concerning, given the risks of not vaccinating.

“A window of opportunity is now available to increase the vaccination rates substantially by providing a role for pharmacists in providing the HPV vaccine,” he added. “Government needs to seize this opportunity.”