Nurse urges parents to allow girls HPV jab

(CNS): Although the government’s free vaccination programme for the Human Papillomavirus HPV vaccine is not mandatory, School Health Coordinator Nurse Joanna Rose Wright has urged parents and guardians to allow their young girls take advantage of the vaccine which can protect them from cervical cancer.  She said that a letter will be sent home to all parents on 30 October advising of the process and requesting confirmation of consent for the child to be given the vaccination. “No child will be vaccinated without parental consent, and parents will have the opportunity to be present at the time of vaccination if they choose,” she said.

The letters are to be returned to the child’s school teacher no later than November 1, 2012. Parents are urged to be on the lookout for letters in the school bags of year 7 girls, 11-12 years old.

Announced last month by the the health minister Mark Scotland the cancer prevention vaccine, is being integrated into Cayman’s childhood immunization programme starting in November of this year. To start with the free programme is being offered at the two government high schools, John Gray and Clifton Hunter, beginning the week of November 5 from 10 a.m. to noon.

The target populations for the vaccine are girls aged 11-12 years in year 7 and it involves three injections given by School Nurses over six months — at the time of the appointment; two months after the first dose; and six months after the first dose.

Children between the ages of 11 – 17 from both government and private schools, accompanied by their parents, can also get their HPV vaccination at some Health Services Authority facilities including the Public Health Clinic at the Cayman Islands Hospital, West Bay and Bodden Town health centres, and Faith Hospital in Cayman Brac. Appointments can be made by contacting the health centres.

Further information may be had by calling the Public Health Clinic on 244-2648. West Bay Health Centre on 949-3439; Bodden Town Health Centre on 947-2299; Faith Hospital on 948-2243 and Little Cayman Clinic on 948-0072.