Girls lose out on cervical cancer protection
Girls who did not take part in the second round of vaccination against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, are not protected, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has said.
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Although the girls took the first dose of the vaccination, their inability to make themselves available for the second dose stripes them of any protection they would have derived.
The girls would, therefore, not be given the third and final dose which would be administered from September 24 to 27.
The Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Dr Kwando Odei Antwi-Agyei, who spoke to the Junior Graphic, explained that for a girl to be fully protected from the virus, all the three doses should be completed and on schedule.
In February this year, the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service and the Expanded Programme on Immunisation embarked on a 13-district vaccination programme of girls against the HPV, which causes cervical cancer in the Central and Northern regions.
The exercise was undertaken in schools, therefore, girls enrolled in Primary four and five were targeted for the vaccination.
The second round of the exercise took place from March 18 to 22. Unfortunately, for various reasons, some of the girls who took part in the first round could not be vaccinated in the second phase of the exercise.
For instance, districts in the Central Region vaccinated 20,007 girls in the first round but during the second round, only, 19,127 pupils were reached.
In the Northern Region, the EPI targeted 31,993, but 31,849 were vaccinated, and in the second round, there was a further drop to 30,163 girls receiving the vaccine.
Dr Antwi-Agyei said some of the reasons which led to the girls missing out on the vaccination were the strike action that basic schoolteachers embarked on during March and also some parents’ refusal to allow their children to take part in the exercise when the second dose was being administered.
“Some girls also did not take part because they said the injection was so painful and, therefore, did not want to go through that kind of pain a second time.
Other side effects which the children complained of were vomiting, headaches, etc. which were said to be expected reactions after vaccination.
Dr Antwi-Agyei pointed out that those symptoms indicated that the vaccine was very safe.
Explaining what cervical cancer is, Dr Antwi-Agyei said, “It is a sexually transmitted disease which affects the lower part of the womb known as the cervix and that is why it is important for girls to be vaccinated before their first sexual contact to prevent them from being exposed to the virus.”
“This is because the vaccine can prevent cervical cancer in females if it is given before they are exposed to the virus since the HPV is easily acquired, even with only one sexual partner,” he explained.
“It is important, he said, for girls to get the HPV vaccine before they have any sexual contact as the vaccine works better in girls at that age than at older ages.”
According to Dr Antwi-Agyei, the vaccination exercise, which is on a pilot basis, is also aimed at enabling the GHS and EPI to gather the needed information so that vaccination could be introduced nationwide.
By Eugenia Adjei-Mensah/Junior Graphic/Ghana