Parents face higher cervical vaccine cost as relief is cut

PARENTS will find the cost of having their daughters vaccinated against cervical cancer will be more expensive next year because of the reduction in tax relief on medical expenses.

The Irish Cancer Society has warned that a parent who has a daughter vaccinated before the end of the year at a cost of €600 will qualify for €246 tax relief. But, from January 1, the relief will be capped at €120.

The society is concerned some parents might be deterred from getting their daughters vaccinated because of the reduction and that the situation was inequitable because only those girls whose parents can afford the vaccination will get it.

The society’s head of advocacy and communications, Kathleen O’Meara, said most parents would wait for the start of the free mass vaccination programme.

Health Minister Mary Harney told a recent meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children that she hoped the vaccination programme could be introduced in 2010.

Ms O’Meara said the current situation had created gross inequalities in terms of access to what should be a basic healthcare right.

Free mass cervical vaccination programmes have been introduced in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain.

“All the evidence has shown that the introduction of a universal, high-uptake vaccination programme for young girls, in conjunction with a cervical cancer screening programme for all women aged 25 to 60, will significantly reduce overall cervical cancer rates,” she said.