Cervical cancer vaccine

Transcript:

Professor David Hill, Cancer Council Victoria:

For the first time in Australia we now have the ability to offer a vaccine on a mass basis to prevent cancer. The cancer involved is cancer of the cervix.

Deaths from cancer of the cervix would actually be quite high in this country if it were not for the effective Pap screening program we've had for many years, but we're now on the threshold of being able to do a lot better for cancer of the cervix and that is to prevent it completely in many cases.

The cause of cervical cancer is the human papilloma virus, which is transmitted through sexual contact, and we now have a vaccine that protects against 2 strains of that virus, which cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases. It doesn't replace the pap test, but what it does is offer an opportunity to provide protection for women as they mature into adulthood, against cervical cancer.

The vaccine's been approved for use with females aged between 9 and 26 at the moment and it's being offered through a program of vaccination in schools to all secondary school girls. They need 3 shots spread over 6 months and that's been organised through the National Immunisation Program and all of them will be vaccinated by the end of 2008.

Women who have left school and have not yet reached the age of 26 are advised to get vaccinated, and they can do that through their general practioner.

Pap tests remain very important, for a couple of reasons. It will take many, many years for the effect of the vaccine to be reflected in reduced cervical cancer incidents, because what we're doing is getting in and preventing an infection, which takes some years to cause the cancer, if it's going to. And of course most women at risk of cervical cancer are past that possibility - they've been exposed to HPV. So they do need to continue to have their pap tests regularly, as has always been recommended, and certainly not relax and give up the program - that would be very dangerous.

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