Grade 8 Girls To Be Offered Cervical Cancer Vaccine, Gardasil - Ontario, Canada

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Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Sexual Health / STDs;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 03 Aug 2007 - 9:00 PST

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Ontario is to offer Gardasil, a vaccine to protect against cervical cancer, to all Grade 8 girls, even though the Canadian Medical Association Journal indicated that it is perhaps too early to offer the vaccine on a universal basis. The program will be free and voluntary and will be offered to approximately 84,000 girls and young women. The vaccine will be offered in schools.

The program will cost Ontario CAN$117 million over three years.

Sandra Pupatello, Minister for Women's Issues, Ontario, said that all Grade 8 girls will get the vaccine if they so choose by the end of this school year. Pupatello added "There has never been an issue around women's health that has had this level of unanimity. It wasn't a difficult decision."

Public health nurses will administer Gardasil. Parents will be given consent forms, plus information, well before the vaccines are offered. Nova Scotia started offering Gardasil to girls in July, 2007.

Older females will not get the vaccine free-of-charge. The full course, involving three injections over six months, costs around CAN$600.

What is cervical cancer?

It is cancer of the cervix, the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina. Certain types of HPV (human papillomavirus) cause abnormal cells to develop in the lining of the cervix. If these abnormal cells are not treated early enough they may become pre-cancers, and eventually cancer. HPV does not go away on its own.

Why Gardasil?

Gardasil helps protect a woman against diseases caused by HPV Types 16 & 18. These two types are responsible for 70% of all cervical cancer cases. Gardasil also protects women against HPV Types 6 & 11, the cause of 90% of genital warts.

Gardasil does not protect everyone, it does not prevent all cervical cancer types. It is important for women who have received Gardasil to continue having regular cancer screenings.

According to the Gardasil web site, the three-injection six month course may cause swilling, itching, redness at injection site, raised temperature, nausea and dizziness.

How does one become infected with HPV?

-- Anyone who has sexual activity with a person infected with HPV can become infected. An infected person may have no symptoms and not know he/she could be it on. Sexual activity does not exclusively involve sexual intercourse.

-- HPV infection affects both men and women.

-- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 20 million people in the USA were infected with HPV in 2005. The CDC adds that the only fully-guaranteed way of never becoming infected with HPV is to avoid any sexual activity.

-- Gardasil Web Site
-- Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Ontario

Written by: Christian Nordqvist


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