Cervical cancer vaccine ‘gives false sense of security’

THE new cervical cancer vaccine could be lulling women into a false sense of security, a medical expert warned yesterday.

The Irish Cancer Society’s cervical cancer advisor, consultant gynaecologist, Dr Gráinne Flannelly, said vaccinated sexually active women could be “falsely reassured” that they were not at risk any more and not present themselves for screening.

There was a danger that health authorities were sending the wrong message by encouraging women who had already been exposed to the human papilloma virus (HPV) to be vaccinated, she said.