Warning over media coverage of cervical cancer vaccine

Media “scaremongering” around the side-effects of a vaccine designed to protect against cervical cancer has led to parents withdrawing consent for it to be given to their daughters, doctors have warned.

Addressing the Irish Medical Organisation’s agm in Sligo, community health doctor Ann Hogan who is based in the Mid-West, said they had received “a fair few phoneccalls” from parents who requested that their daughters not be given the second dose of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.

“These are girls who received the first dose last September and who are now due the second dose. There has been about a 10% drop off at two large schools in the Mid-West,” Dr Hogan said.