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Australia's regulatory pharmaceutical watchdog, Therapeutic Goods Administration, authorized the use of a new cervical cancer vaccine called Cervarix in women aged from 10 up to 45 this week and is expected to be available in a matter of months.
Australian women over the said age will be the first in the world to benefit from the vaccine, which is the first in the world. The approval of the breakthrough medication comes after five Australian schoolgirls were reportedly hospitalized earlier this month after suffering negative reactions to a similar vaccine called Gardasil. Famed researcher Professor Ian Frazer's vaccine, Gardasil, is only for use in younger age groups.
Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott tried to pacify the particular incident, saying yesterday it was ``not unusual'' to have short-term symptoms such as fainting or headaches after the vaccination of Gardasil. ``(The doctors) believe there was no physiological reaction brought on by Gardasil and while certainly I have asked for further checks to be done (as) it is very important we assure ourselves this vaccine is as safe as feasibly possible, I would counsel parents against undue alarm,'' states Mr Abbott.
According to Dr. Rachel Skinner of the Vaccine Trials Group at Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, who worked as a trial investigator for both Cervarix and Gardasil, says the latter works by protecting against 70 per cent of cervical cancers caused by the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus and is of most benefit to young women who are not sexually active. Adding that both drugs had been rigorously tested.
However she stresses that Cervarix is for use by those aged from 10 to 45, is still protective against cervical cancer as well as pre-cancerous lesions in older, sexually active women. `As women get older there is a chance they could get reinfected and very few women have been exposed to the two types of virus (that can lead to cervical cancer),'' she said.
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