The Health Ministry is urged to urgently resume the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for 13-year-olds in schools after a pandemic-related halt meant more than 560,000 girls missed their shots.
The HPV vaccination is to curb cervical cancer, the third most common cancer among women in Malaysia, affecting 1,740 women and killing 991 of them a year.
“This worrying statistic has to be taken seriously and thus the urgent need to restart and re-prioritise the vaccination programme on top of implementing a comprehensive catch-up plan to better protect our girls from this deadly virus,” DAP’s Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii said.
He also urged state governments and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to work with the federal government on the matter.
“I do hope such plans will be clearly reflected both in the 2022/2023 budget and in the Health White Paper that Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin intends to table in Parliament by year-end,” said Yii, who is also chairperson of the Parliamentary select committee on health, science and innovation.
Most states missed HPV jabs
Earlier, the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) raised the alarm over the fact that more than half a million teenage girls in secondary schools have missed their HPV jabs due to Covid-19-related school closures.
At least 176,944 and 185,593 13-year-old girls would have missed their HPV shots in 2020 and 2021 respectively, the NCSM said.
A further 200,000 girls are estimated to have missed out this year, with data showing a reduction of inoculations across almost all states from 2020 to 2022.
In Sarawak, for example, there was a reduction in successful inoculations from 30 percent in 2020 to 12.5 percent this year.
This year, not a single district or zone in Kedah, Penang, Perlis, Johor, and the three Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan reported successful HPV inoculation programmes, NCSM noted.
It added that resuming the programme, including a catch-up programme for those who missed their doses immediately, would also be more cost-effective.
This is because those who are inoculated before the age of 15 will only need two doses, as opposed to three doses if older.
Malaysia was the first country in Southeast Asia to implement a national HPV inoculation programme, giving out free vaccination to all 13-year-old girls in public and private schools starting 2010.
If done privately, a double dose for children and a triple dose for adults can cost more than RM1,000 per person. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.