CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire health officials announced plans Wednesday to routinely give girls a newly approved vaccine to protect them against cervical cancer.
“New Hampshire will be the first state in the country to offer the vaccine in its universal children’s (vaccine) program,” said Health and Human Services Commissioner John Stephen.
The state’s Vaccine for Children program is funded by the federal government and private insurers and offers immunizations for a variety of diseases at no cost to children through age 18.
Stephen said the vaccine for the human papillomavirus – or HPV – will be provided free to girls ages 11 through 18.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine in June for use in girls as young as 9, up to age 26. It has been hailed as a breakthrough in cancer prevention. It prevents infections from some strains of sexually transmitted HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and genital warts.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 20 million people in the United States are infected and 6.2 million more get infected annually. Most HPV infections don’t cause any symptoms and go away on their own.
Some infected with HPV show no symptoms, but can pass the virus to others through sexual contact for two years, said state epidemiologist Dr. Jose Montero.
The American Cancer Society estimates 9,700 women nationwide will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2006 and 3,700 will die.
State health officials said the vaccine must be administered in three doses within six months to be effective. They said doctors can begin ordering the vaccine Friday for shipment in January.
Private and federal funds will pay the $320 needed for three shots for 17,000 girls next year – about 25 percent of those eligible.
“It’s a long-term rollout,” Montero said of the immunization effort.
The $4.8 million budgeted for the vaccine next year represents about one-third of the immunization program’s budget. The program also pays to vaccinate children against other diseases, including diptheria, Hepatitis A and B, polio and measles.
State officials hope to vaccinate young girls who have not been sexually active since those who have already been exposed to HPV won’t be protected by the vaccine.
“Some say giving the vaccination to 11-year-old girls is a license to promiscuity. I disagree,” said Stephen.
He said the vaccine won’t protect girls from other sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, or from getting pregnant.
“This is not a panacea,” he said, and strongly urged girls to abstain from sex.
Public Health Director Mary Ann Cooney said cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer in women.
“We cannot overstate the huge breakthrough in this vaccine,” she said.
Montero said the immunization effort will take time and said parents should not rush to get their daughters into a doctor in January.
Montero also stressed that the vaccine is not a treatment.
The vaccine protects against four major types of HPV, of which two types cause about 70 percent of cervical cancer and two cause about 90 percent of genital warts. The protection is long lasting, but Montero said women should continue to get cervical cancer screening since the vaccine does not protect against all types of HPV that cause cancer.
There are 40 types of HPV, according to the CDC.
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