Free HPV Vaccinations for Ireland's Young Women

According to recent statements by the health minister, the safe and effective cancer prevention vaccine may soon become available free to all women under 25 in Ireland. 

Mr. Donnelly informed the Irish Examiner on May 20, 2022, that he had written to the Health Service Executive (HSE) requesting it to outline a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program for women.

"This is an incredibly effective vaccine, and I would like to see a catch-up program rolled out as quickly as possible," the minister stated.

"We have a number of young women who were offered the HPV vaccine (during COVID-19) and didn't take it at the time."

HSE school vaccination teams had already been working with schools to ensure anyone who missed their shot while in their first year gets a second opportunity.

Furthermore, specific women may only need one HPV vaccine dose.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) is finalizing its recommendation to reduce the number of HPV vaccinations to just one dose.

The NIAC's action follows similar decisions by the UK Health Security Agency on February 24, 2022. 

Additionally, the HPV vaccination program is changing from Gardasil® to Gardasil®9 in 2022.

Merck's Gardasil9 vaccine helps protect people ages 9 to 45 against cervical, vaginal, and vulvar cancers in females, anal cancer, certain head and neck cancers, and genital warts in both males and females. 

This is an important life-saving program since the Irish Examiner reported in January 2022 that 11% of women screened for HPV by CervicalCheck were found to be positive for the cancer-causing virus.

The Gardasil9 vaccine is generally available at clinics and pharmacies in the USA.

Additional HPV vaccination news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/HPV.

Note: This information was manually edited for clarity and curated for mobile readership.