Jabs to Beat Cervical Cancer

Plans to vaccinate young girls to help protect against cervical cancer are set to be announced by the Government.

Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation, will set out how and when girls will receive the jab against the sexually transmitted infection human papillomavirus (HPV).

HPV causes most cases of cervical cancer, which kills more than 1,000 women in the UK each year.

The jab would revolutionise the approach to beating the disease.

The Government has already agreed that girls around the age of 12 or 13 will receive the vaccine in three doses over a six-month period at a cost of around 300 per full course.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which recommended the jabs to the Department, has been holding meetings on how the vaccination programme will be rolled out.

The Department of Health also ordered an independent review in June of the costs to the NHS.

The jabs are not compulsory but would be offered to girls in all parts of the UK.

At present, there are two jabs designed to be used in a vaccination programme: Gardasil, made by Merck and Sanofi Pasteur; and Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline.

Smear testing will need to continue after the vaccine is introduced, which is expected to be from next year.