The health service has warned that it will take years to repair the damage caused by misinformation campaigns as the number of girls receiving the HPV vaccine barely rose above an all-time low.
Half of eligible girls refused the cervical cancer vaccine in the 2016 and 2017 academic year. The government and a leading cancer charity warned that this will result in a minimum of 40 deaths. Another 100 girls will need life-changing treatment and 1,000 more will need invasive therapy. The drop in vaccinations has been linked with what health officials called “unsubstantiated concerns” spread by anti-vaccine groups.
The HSE has said it would not stop until all parents were persuaded to vaccinate their daughters. It is preparing an information campaign for the new school year to tackle the drop-off in numbers.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection. Certain strains of the virus can lead to cervical cancer and others can cause genital warts. Gardasil, the vaccine used in Ireland, protects against both.
Since 2010 all girls in the first year of secondary school have been offered the vaccine with a targeted uptake of over 80 per cent. In 2015, 87 per cent of 12 and 13-year-olds were vaccinated, the highest proportion since the programme began. This dropped to 50 per cent in September and October 2016, the health service said.
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Brenda Corcoran, head of immunisation at the HSE, said the executive had been running an intensive social media and local information campaign and in March this year offered parents a second chance to immunise their daughters after explaining the dangers of the cancer. Dr Corcoran said it had succeeded in increasing pick up by between 1 and 5 per cent in some areas but there was “a long way to go” before the rate would return to 80 per cent.
“It is going to take time. It’s similar to the misinformation campaign against the MMR vaccine. Even now, 17 years later, we still haven’t managed to get back to the level of uptake we had before on MMR,” she said.
Dr Corcoran said there had been a difference in the way the Irish media covered claims that the vaccination was harmful between this year and last year. She said that while there was “no doubt” that some girls had experienced illness, there was no evidence that it was caused by the HPV vaccine.
“This vaccination protects against a horrible disease. Cervical cancer is a horrific disease that kills 90 women a year in Ireland,” she said. She added that the vaccination was a safe and proven way to protect against the cancer. “We won’t stop until we persuade all parents of that,” she said.
About 300 women in Ireland have cervical cancer diagnosed each year and about 100 of those will die of the disease. The HSE campaign to combat misinformation over the next few months is expected to involve cancer charities, teachers unions and schools.
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The Irish Cancer Society has used a formula to show that the low number of girls being vaccinated between 2016 and 2017 will result in 40 avoidable cervical cancer deaths.
“It is promising to see uptake increasing due to the catch-up immunisation service, but clearly more needs to be done,” Robert O’Connor, the head of research at the Irish Cancer Society said.
“If the worrying trend of parents refusing the vaccine for their daughters is not fully reversed, women will continue to die needlessly from HPV-caused cancers.”
The vaccine uptake figures were released in response to a parliamentary question from Fiona O’Loughlin, the Fianna Fáil TD.
“There seems to have been a lot of scaremongering,” Ms O’Loughlin said. “It’s wrong. The fact that the initial uptake rate has decreased to 50 per cent is a concern.”
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Regret, a campaign group representing 350 young women who say they developed long-term side-effects after being given Gardasil, said that the vaccine causes seizures and joint pain.
Its claims have been rejected by medical experts and the HSE. Gardasil is endorsed by the European Medicines Agency and the European Commission for use in all EU member states.
Simon Harris, the health minister, last night said that “unfounded, false claims” had been made about the safety of the HPV vaccination.
“There is no scientific evidence that the HPV vaccine causes any long-term illness. However, this misinformation has led to a significant drop in uptake rates of the HPV vaccine. This means that a large cohort of girls are now at risk of developing cervical cancer later in their lives,” he said.
He urged parents concerned about the safety of the vaccine to speak to their GP or visit hpv.ie, which is accredited by the World Health Organisation.
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“These sources of information are clear and accurate and will answer any queries people may have about the benefits or risks,” he said.
“I know that parents want to do everything possible to make sure their children are healthy and protected from preventable diseases. Vaccination is the best way to do that.”