This article is from page 11 of the 2008-08-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
that there is no proof that the vaccine is effective five years after inocula- tion, and studies supporting it for that period of time have been carried out solely by the drug companies supply- ing the vaccine.
‘At the time these girls can be sexu- ally active they are left wondering if it is working, and if they will need a booster.”
The experienced practice nurse,
who is an advocate of vaccination and cancer screening programmes, also has reservations that just 50 per cent of the population are being vac- cinated against HPV, the sexually transmitted infection that affects 80 per cent of the population – male and eet N ee
The Kilmihil nurse said that if the vaccine is to go ahead both genders should be treated, so as to interrupt the transition of the HPV virus and ensure true community immunity. As well as contributing to cervical cancer HPV also contributes to rare cancers such as penile cancer and anal cancer in men. These cancers are also more common in men that have sex with other men, leaving men without the vaccine exposed.
Ms Harty believes that the vaccine
programme should be postponed un- til the cervical screening service has been rolled out nationwide and more is understood about the three-course injection available in Ireland since PAU ies
“Vaccination does not mean that screening will cease in the future, that will have to continue so I be- lieve it is more important to use the finances to get the programme rolled out nationwide first. Then wait a few years until the vaccine has been prov- en elsewhere,” she said. “The time is not right for a knee jerk reaction.”
“There is no epidemic of cervical cancer. More women die from breast cancer, and more women in Ireland die from heart disease than breast cancer and cervical cancer together,’ she said.
In research for a paper she is writ- ing, Ms Harty studied New Zealand, which has a similar population to Ireland.
“There they decided not to run with the vaccine programme,” she said.
The nurse believes that if the vac- cine is so powerful that it should be supplied almost immediately to the developing world where no screen- ing is available and where 80 per cent of the world’s cervical cancer deaths occur.
This 1s one of the few points of view that Ms Harty and the drug companies supplying one of the HPV vaccines are likely to agree on.
In its information on its HPV vac- cine GlaxoSmithKline said “lack of screening makes the need for a vac- cine against cervical cancer even
more pressing.”
Ms Harty believes that as a screen- ing service will be required in Ireland even post vaccine that the funding for the vaccine should be used instead to ensure a nationwide cervical screen- ing programme.
The pilot cervical screening serv- ice was rolled out in the mid-west in 2000. In 2008 the service still has not reached women outside Clare, Bile. e-iCw ulm Blnoe-vay
Under the service the Irish Cancer Screening Programme provided free Smear tests to 20,278 women each year.
The uptake among eligible women was 62.2 per cent last year. The de- tection rate of women with invasive cancer was 1.5 per cent while 3.7 per cent were referred for a colposcopy.