The year-long delay in introducing a cervical cancer vaccination programme in the Republic will seem trivial in 20 years time, one of the co-inventors of the vaccine said yesterday.
Prof Ian Frazer of the University of Queensland in Brisbane said what was important was that the HPV vaccine would now begin to be given to school girls this year.
Last week, Minister for Health Mary Harney announced the HPV vaccine will be offered to first year students in secondary schools across the country before the summer break.
There was controversy a year ago when the vaccination programme had been postponed for cost reasons.
"I personally think that's not a very important issue compared with the one that you've actually got the vaccine available right now. I mean you know a year seems a long time in the scheme of things right at the moment, but in 20 years time a year's delay will seem trivial," Prof Frazer said.
He was in speaking in Dublin today after delivering the Irish Cancer Society's Charles Cully memorial lecture.
He said that at present the HPV vaccine protects against only about 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer, therefore it is complementary to cervical screening programmes rather than a substitute for them. However, he said a vaccine protecting against up to 90 per cent of cases of cervical cancer should be available in five years time. These vaccines are now in phase two clinical trials.
One third of all cancer, he added, could be prevented by changes in behaviour such as stopping smoking and reducing alcohol consumption. A further 20 per cent of cases are caused by infection - some of these with the HPV virus - but he believes over the next 10 to 20 years it will be possible to control with vaccines that 20 per cent of cases of cancer caused by infections. "We know we can do that," he said.
Nonetheless he said controlling cancer in the 21st century will be the biggest public health challenge we face.
Some 44 million doses of the HPV vaccine have now been delivered worldwide, he confirmed. While adverse reactions have been reported, these were mainly things like sore arms, but some people had fainted and there were 28 cases of severe allergic reaction.
Ms Harney said the HPV vaccination programme here will be rolled out in advance of the summer to first year students at second level. Each girl will have to get three doses of the vaccine during 2010.
"We obviously have to get parental support because we are dealing here with minors, girls aged approximately 12 years of age. I don't accept for one moment the view that this promotes sexual activity. What we are dealing with here is the reality that young girls have to get this vaccine before they become sexually active and the recommended age right around the world is the age of 12," she said.
"We know the vaccine together with the cervical screening programme will reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in an individual woman by about 95 per cent," she added.
Some 286 women in the State were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2007 and in the same year 81 women died from the disease.