The Berbice Regional Health Authority appealed to parents to allow their daughters to be inoculated with the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine when it was launched at the All Saints Primary School on Tuesday.
Regional Chairman David Armogan, who is also the Chairman of the health authority, said parents should beware of doomsayers and to allow their daughters to be inoculated with the only vaccine that has prevent to prevent certain types of HPV.
Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among Guyanese women.
Several 11-year-old girls were vaccinated at the launch, in the presence of their parents and health officials.
In an address to the gathering, Armogan lauded the exercise as another initiative undertaken by the health ministry to ensure that the populace lives a healthier life. He then reminded the audience that the health and education sectors take the largest slice of the national budget.
“The decision to implement this vaccine is not a ‘willy-nilly’ one but it was tested and tried,” he said, while noting the in-depth research conducted by international agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). When the vaccine was first introduced, he noted, certain sections of the populace had advised that more research should be done.
“They are people in the society who are permanent protestors. This is the sixteenth vaccine we are introducing,” Armogan said.
Meanwhile, Maternal and Child Health Officer Dr Janice Woolford appealed to the parents, primarily mothers, to take note of the incidence of cervical cancer in Guyana when making their decision. Cervical cancer occurs at a rate of 47.3 per 100,000 women, with a mortality rate of 22.2%, which is 60% higher that the Caribbean and Latin America region. According to records from the Guyana Cancer Society, in 2009 there were 520 cases of cancer in women over five years, from 2004 to 2009, with 309 being alive at the end of the reporting period.
It was observed that the direct medical care costs associated with cervical cancer in 2010 were estimated as being higher than the cost of the prevention programme through vaccination. Woolford noted that indirect economic costs will be significantly higher, representing lost earnings for women and families, worker replacement costs for businesses and a significant cost to society: 25.9 years of life, on average, by each woman who dies of cervical cancer.
Woolford also said that the ministry’s immunization programme has been successful; Guyana has been certified free from yellow fever in 1968, polio in 1990, measles in 1992, and a significant reduction in reported cases of mumps, rubella, whooping cough and pneumonia over the last decade.
In response to a question about why the decision was taken to inoculate girls as young as 11, Woolford explained that initially the vaccine will be given to girls who have not yet reached their twelfth birthday, before they become sexually active. HPV infection can occur the first time girls and women have sex and it can occur even if they have sex only one time.
Nevertheless, she told the gathering to do their own research and to access reputable health sites, such as PAHO and WHO, “who don’t listen to persons who may have accessed some blog which is misinforming the public, do your own research.”
Meanwhile, Regional Education Officer Shafiran Bhajan congratulated the ministry for taking the step “to help protect the main person in the family of tomorrow.” CEO of the Berbice Regional Health Authority Dr Vishwa Mahadeo also applauded parents for allowing the region to lead the immunization programme.
The ministry introduced the HPV vaccine on January 11, 2012. The vaccine, which is given intramuscularly, is licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is the first vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer, abnormal and precancerous cervical lesions, abnormal and precancerous vaginal and vulva lesions, and genital warts.
It is given as three injections over a six month period, the first dose is given at a particular time followed by another dose two months after that the third and last dose six months after the first dose. GARDASIL is a recombinant vaccine and is effective against HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 and it is approved for use in females between the ages of nine years and 26 years.
