HPV vaccine backlog must be tackled urgently to save lives

The late Laura Brennan, 26, who campaigned to raise awareness and arrest the trend of vaccine hesitancy before her death from cervical cancer aged 26.

Pharmacists must be urgently drafted in to administer the HPV vaccine, a Fine Gael senator has said.

Concerns have been raised after it was revealed that just 53% of first-year students received the HPV vaccine last year. Pharmacists have offered to administer the jab, which protects against a number of cancers.

The HSE has blamed Covid and difficulties in accessing some schools for the drop in the number of pupils who received the vaccine last autumn.

The Pharmacy Union (IPU) secretary general Darragh O’Loughlin has now called for this worrying situation to be immediately addressed.

Significant fall in the number of students receiving the HPV vaccine concerning as only 53.6% of students received a first dose of the HPV vaccine in 2020 compared to over 80% in 2019

Read more on https://t.co/kFJVS1bQcj pic.twitter.com/fesTY1z3U6

— Irish Pharmacy Union (@IrishPharmacy) March 31, 2021

“The fall-off in students receiving the HPV vaccination last year is deeply concerning and I have urged the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, to allow pharmacists to administer the HPV vaccine immediately. We urgently need to administer HPV vaccine to the 50% of our young people who risk being left behind," he said.

Action plan

Fine Gael senator Martin Conway urged Mr Donnelly and the HSE to immediately implement an action plan to catch up on the backlog of students waiting on HPV vaccines. They also need to ensure the 2021 cohort of students receive the vaccine, he said.

In 2019, 80% of students received the first dose of the vaccine. However, between September and December of last year, just 37,014 out of the country's 69,111 first-year pupils were vaccinated.

"Without immediate action, we will be failing to deal with a preventable cancer," Mr Conway said.

The vaccine programme can be managed in a very safe manner. We need a more creative approach to catch up by engaging with our local network of pharmacists and dental practices." 

Mr Conway called on the Health Minister to take up the offer made by pharmacists and said resources should be made available to ensure the HPV vaccine programme continues alongside the Covid vaccination rollout.

Laura Brennan

Remembering Laura Brennan, who campaigned to raise awareness and arrest the trend of vaccine hesitancy before her death from cervical cancer aged 26, he said: “In recent weeks, Laura’s family are bravely carrying on her work and have called for the HPV vaccine programme to be reinstated to the current public health agenda. I fully support this.

“We cannot afford to lose this momentum for the programme and ultimately, the HPV vaccine will save lives."

Each year in Ireland about 400 people will be diagnosed with a cancer caused by the HPV virus.

The HSE told the Irish Examiner that many schools were unable to facilitate vaccination teams last September due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"School teams facilitated as many students as possible, both in schools where vaccinations were permitted, and in clinics outside of schools where possible," a HSE spokesperson said.

The programme has since been paused, as staff have been redeployed to administering the Covid-19 vaccine. The HSE said only a "very limited number" of schools teams have been able to restart clinics.

"As the programme is ongoing, uptake information is not available. However, maintaining high uptake of the HPV vaccine and honouring the legacy of Laura Brennan and her work with us is very important to everyone in the health service."