High success rate in HPV campaign

The HPV coalition has successfully completed the first year of a two-year campaign to protect young women in the community against cervical cancer by having them vaccinated against the human papilloma virus.

The coalition is made up of members from various units of the Department of Health, the Commonwealth Cancer Association, and Stellar Marianas from the private sector.

The HPV vaccine will reduce cervical cancer by an estimated 70 percent in vaccinated women.

“When you consider that the rate of cervical cancer in the CNMI is five to six times greater than the U.S. mainland, a reduction of 70 percent is significant,” said Dr. John C. Hardy, senior adviser for the Commonwealth Cancer Association and a member of the HPV Campaign Committee.

The HPV vaccine is expensive. It cost $360 for the series of three shots, and administration fees can add $100 or more when provided by a private doctor. It is free to all high school and middle school girls under the age of 19 years.

The HPV vaccine is recommended for all female ages 9 years to 26 years old by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American college of Obstetricians and Gynecologist and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Since the vaccine was introduced in 2006, about 8 million females in the U.S. have received at least one dose of HPV. The Department of Health will provide this vaccine to seventh and eighth grade girls beginning this school year.

During the last school year, about 4,000 doses of HPV vaccine were administered to 1,400 high school girls. About 77 percent have received the required three doses. Five of the 12 CNMI high schools had 100 percent of their female students vaccinated with all three doses. This success is dampened by the 124 eligible girls (8 percent) who failed to take advantage of the opportunity to obtain free vaccine. A follow-up survey showed that this failure was mainly due to their fear of injections.

“These young women sadly selected years of risking cervical cancer and even death, rather than face three needle sticks,” said Hardy.

The second year of the HPV campaign will focus on the middle schools (grades 7, and 8) and the freshman students in high schools. The coalition will send teams of public health nurses to each school in October, December and April to administer the HPV vaccine. During this second year, all high school students who failed to complete the three dose series last year can take advantage of this year’s school visit. In addition, they can visit the immunization clinics for any missing shots. They can simply walk-in during office hours.

The female students will be provided packets of informational material covering the vaccine and cervical cancer, along with a parental consent form. No student will be vaccinated without her parent’s written permission. The signed consent form should be returned to the school the next day after distribution of the packet.

“In these difficult times it is nice to see the CNMI leading the way among Pacific islands in protecting its young women against this deadly cancer,” said Hardy. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]