Get the HPV vaccine for free at Groningen station: Overcoming myths and fears to protect against cervical cancer

She has now avoided him long enough, decided Leona Boomsma (26) from Groningen. As a ten-year-old she already received a call to get vaccinated with the HPV vaccine. “But then there were still crazy stories about it,” says Boomsma. “It was said that it could paralyze you and all that. So then my mother said: skip this one first. Now I know better.” Another fear at the time was that children would be chronically fatigued by the vaccine.

At the beginning of this year, Boomsma received another call that she could still get the vaccine for free this year. “This time I was sure that I did want him,” says the Groningen woman. “So much research has now been done into the side effects that it is certain that it can do no harm.” ‘Serious, permanent complaints have never been found,’ says RIVM about the HPV vaccine. Vaccinees are 95 percent protected against infections with the human papilloma virus, which (mainly) causes cervical cancer.

‘Far away on an industrial estate’

“But for that vaccination I had to go to the GGD on Osloweg,” says Boomsma. “It is somewhere far away on an industrial estate.” When she heard that the GGD will be present at the main station in Groningen this afternoon to put the vaccine, she knew she really had to bite now. “I had an appointment nearby, but otherwise I would have gotten on my bike especially for it.”

With the injection campaign, the GGD focuses on young people born between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2003. However, a huge turnout is not expected. “It is an age category that is not easy to convince,” says Lily Benjamin of GGD Groningen. “They already have so much on their mind and then there is also a letter from the GGD.” Which also plays a role, says project manager Jolien Groeneveld: “We are in the year after the corona pandemic. We notice that many people are a bit tired of vaccination.”

Now still free

Young people can always decide to get the shot, but those who actually want it better do it immediately, says the GGD. “Because at the moment it is still free for young people,” says Benjamin. From 2024 you have to pay 350 euros for the vaccine, divided over two injections. There must be at least 5 months between the first and second injection. Benjamin: ,,So anyone who does not want to pay for the second shot, should be there now.” The same campaign last week at Utrecht station was quite a success with 1300 shots. In Rotterdam the score was 800.

Vincent de Ruiter (24) from Winschoten is also convinced. He walks back into the Groningen station hall with a plaster on his upper arm. “I absolutely do not want to pass on this virus,” says De Ruiter. “So I see it as my responsibility to get myself pricked.”