Sexual health advocacy group urges caution in use of HPV vaccine
Source: CBC News
Posted: 06/13/08 5:19PM
Filed Under: Canada
Alberta parents are being warned to do their homework when it comes to deciding whether they should have their daughters vaccinated against the virus that causes some cervical cancers.
More than 20,000 Alberta girls in Grade 5 will qualify for the province's free human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine come September, with Grade 9 girls becoming eligible in 2009.
When it announced the program Thursday, Alberta became the final Canadian province to provide free HPV vaccine.
However, one local advocacy group on sexual health believes the issue is not as clear cut as it appears.
Most of the research on the vaccine has been done on older girls, argues Laura Wershler, executive director of Sexual Health Access Alberta, and not enough is known about giving it to girls in the Grade 5 age group.
Wershler said she is pleased the government is funding the program, so parents can make their own choice. But, she said, they need to educate themselves before deciding whether their daughters should be vaccinated.
"This voluntary immunization program is really about taking preventive action to keep our female students healthy as they grow into young, successful adults," Education Minister Dave Hancock said Thursday in a news release.
Not everyone sees it that way. Because the vaccine prevents the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, some people believe it will encourage risky sexual behaviour.
"The way to stop this is to teach girls that promiscuity leads to disease, not to give them some kind of silver lining that says that they can act however they wish," said Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition.
Doctors have been lobbying for more than a year for the HPV vaccine program, but the Conservative government appeared reluctant to introduce it out of fear that it would be seen as condoning sex among young people.
The government wasn't stalling, says Dr. Raj Sherman, the parliamentary assistant to the health minister; it was just reviewing the evidence that the vaccine prevents cancer.
"We have a cure, and we have something that we can actually do something about," Sherman said. "It's just we needed to reassure Albertans that due diligence has been done ... It's safe and effective, and this is strictly about cancers and preventing cancers."
It's estimated that about 1,300 women contract the sexually transmitted virus each year in Canada. About 400 women die of cervical cancer annually, with it being the second most common type of cancer for women between the age of 20 and 44.
Alberta Health says the vaccine has been proven safe and effective when given early. It says local health authorities will administer the series of three shots, and parents will be asked for their consent before their child is immunized.
While the vaccine is licensed for use in girls and women between the age of nine and 26, Alberta is only paying for girls in Grades 5 and 9. The others will have to purchase the vaccine from their doctors if they want it.
The Canadian Immunization Committee and the Alberta advisory committee on communicable disease recommended the vaccine be provided routinely to girls in one grade some time between Grades 4 and 8. The Conservative government, however, also chose to offer a catch-up program for Grade 9 girls.
More than 20 million doses of Gardasil, the trademark name for the vaccine, have been given worldwide, with few serious adverse reactions reported.
With files from the Canadian Press.
0 %
0 %
