Cervical Cancer Vaccine Receives Nod from Nova Scotia

Written by OJ Fagbire

Sunday, 24 June 2007

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Wednesday marked the day that the first of the Canadian provinces officially presented plans to disperse a vaccine protecting against cervical cancer; that province was Nova Scotia. The Society of gynecologists in Canada praised the move, but said that other provinces needed to get on the bandwagon as well.

The Federal Government in their last budget did include $300 million for a vaccine known as Gardisil. This vaccine protects against the human papillomavirus (HPV), one of the primary STDs that leads to 19 out of 20 cervical cancer cases. Considering the seriousness of the virus, it was disappointing to the gynecologists to see it take months before even one province announced how they were going to disperse the vaccine to the public.

Nova Scotia's plan is simple; they are going to offer the vaccine to 6,000 grade 7 girls starting this fall in three doses over six months.

Dr. Guylaine Lefebvre of the society approves. "This makes sense because it's a captive audience. We recommend all provinces do it the same way. I work with a population that most needs this, but can't afford it. I can hardly wait for it to become available."

According to Lefebvre, cervical cancer is responsible for the death of at least 400 women a year in Canada.

Girls need to be vaccinated before they become sexually active, although in order for the whole population to be immune, boys need to be vaccinated as well. However, the Federal government has not earmarked money for that purpose as other countries such as Australia have done.

Lefebvre had this to say. "In practical terms, we know boys and men carry and disseminate it. If you want to eradicate the virus, you need to eradicate it among boys and men as well. We don't want to give the impression that if we vaccinate only girls, it's only a girls' problem."

At the current moment in time, the recommendations from the society are that girls and women continue to get regular Pap tests. However, if the vaccinations are successful and wide spread, then physicians will be able to start leaving a longer interval in between pap tests and that would remove from strain from the health care system.

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