A DECISION by Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney to limit access for cervical cancer vaccination to 12-year-old girls reflects all that is shabby and wrong about our two-tier healthcare system.
Because of cost considerations, 13 to 15 year old children will be excluded from the State programme. But, if their parents are wealthy enough, they can pay an estimated €600 each and have their children inoculated privately.
Cervical cancer is a slow-growing killer that can be effectively treated if caught in its early stages. That is why a national cervical screening programme is being rolled out next month. But this new vaccination has the capacity to prevent the development of 70 per cent of these cancers, if used before sexual activity takes place, and its application could lead to a halving of deaths in the long term.
The cost of extending the vaccination programme to include 13 to 15 year olds would amount to a once-off charge of €30 million. This type of intervention was specifically recommended by an expert study group. If adopted, benefits would not only accrue from the happiness of the individuals and families whose lives might otherwise be blighted by cancer, but by way of reduced treatment and hospital costs within the healthcare system. However, the Minister has decided not to include these children in the proposed scheme because of budgetary considerations and competing demands for resources.
Doubts about the Government's good faith, along with the capacity of the Health Service Executive to deliver the project, have been raised by the conditional nature of the Minister's announcement. Asking the HSE to prepare a vaccination plan for 12-year-olds, she emphasised it would only go ahead if there was a take-up of 80 per cent and if it was cost-effective in terms of administration and vaccine charges.
Delay and procrastination has already become a feature of this project because of the costs involved. By contrast with this State, a free vaccination service will be rolled out in Northern Ireland and in Britain next month, with a catch-up programme being offered to all girls under 18 years of age. The vaccination programme here will be confined to primary schools, with a possible starting date of September 2009.
Concerns have been raised that the vaccination programme could encourage young children to engage in sexual activity. This scheme has nothing to do with promiscuous behaviour. It simply offers long-term protection against most forms of cervical cancer, just as vaccination against rubella offers protection for future babies.
The real issues involve an official apathy concerning tens of thousands of young girls between 13 and 15 years and an unwillingness to provide the funding necessary to safeguard their health. It emphasises the shameless nature of our two-tier health system where poor families, who cannot afford private vaccinations, will be forced to run a greater risk that their daughters may die of cervical cancer.