Report urges long-term funding for HPV vaccine
September 17, 2008
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Donovan Vincent
CITY HALL BUREAU
Toronto's board of health officials should urge the province to provide long-term funding to vaccinate Grade 8 females against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a new public health report says.
The vaccine, Gardasil, is being administered free to girls – with parental consent – in Ontario schools to prevent up to 70 per cent of cervical cancers and 90 per cent of genital warts.
The program began after Ottawa provided $300 million for three years, beginning last year. Ontario got $117 million of that.
Toronto Public Health offered the HPV vaccine to more than 13,000 Grade 8 girls in 401 Toronto schools last year, 8,000 of whom had received the first dose as of July 1 of this year.
Three doses over a six-month period are needed for full protection.
The public health report, which is on tap for tomorrow's board of health meeting at city hall, urges that the program be continued beyond its allotted three years.
"If we stop after three years we'll have a vaccine-preventable disease but won't be able to give (Gardasil) to girls who need it," said Dr. Vinita Dubey, an associate medical officer of health for Toronto.
The school-based vaccination program is successful because there's a "captive audience," she explained.
"You have girls in schools whose parents sign the consent forms, and girls get it for free," Dubey said, adding if the females could only go to their own doctors the participation rate wouldn't likely be as high.
The report doesn't indicate the costs if the program were to be extended long-term.
Among the other public health recommendations in the report:
- Push the province to provide a "short-term HPV catch-up program" for females in Grades 9 to 12;
- Ask Ontario to set up a "once eligible always eligible" policy allowing girls currently in Grade 8 to remain eligible for the vaccine until they turn 18.
Gardasil is the first HPV vaccine approved for use in Canada.
Public health officials, who reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada, tracked adverse reactions from the Toronto vaccination program.
The data found that of the 22,000 doses administered in the city as of July 1 of this year, 19 adverse reactions – most mild, none severe – were reported.
Toronto Star