Tegucigalpa. To prevent cervical cancer, the Ministry of Health expanded the age range to apply the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 years and with a single dose.
The vaccine had been given to 11-year-old girls, but according to the new guidelines provided by the Expanded Program on Immunizations (EPI), adolescents between 11 and 15 years old can be vaccinated against this disease with a single dose.
The Ministry of Health of Honduras, with the support of the National Advisory Council on Immunizations (CCNI), reviewed new evidence provided by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) of the World Health Organization (WHO), which demonstrate that the single-dose HPV vaccine schedule can provide efficacy and long-lasting protection comparable to that of the two-dose schedule.
This single dose allows us to expand the target population group: girls aged 12, 13, 14 and 15 years old, while maintaining a three-dose schedule for girls and adolescents aged 11 to 15 years with immunosuppressed or HIV-infected diseases.
PERMANENT PROTECTION
The inoculant is available to all girls, free of charge, at health facilities.
This biological is available to all girls of these aforementioned ages, free of charge, in all health establishments; A single dose is applied, that is, a vaccine, with which the girl is protected for life from suffering from womb cancer.
HPV is a virus that causes a sexually transmitted infection and can cause cancer of the womb, vulva, vagina, anus, mouth, throat and penis.
According to the WHO, cervical cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in women in general and the second type of cancer affecting women between 15 and 44 years of age worldwide, with an estimated 604,127 cases in 2020. new cases and 341,831 deaths.
DATA
Honduras began vaccination against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in 2016, applying it exclusively to 11-year-old girls and with two doses, but eight years later studies reveal that the vaccine can be applied in a single dose and thus achieve a reduction in cervical cancer.
VACCINE IS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE
According to the results of a cost-effectiveness study, the vaccine prevents many cases of cervical cancer in vaccinated girls, thus preventing death in women throughout their lives.
The Minister of Health, Carla Paredes, called on fathers, mothers or guardians of girls between 11 and 15 years old, to go to health establishments, so that their daughters receive this vaccine, which is safe, effective and efficient, preferably before to start a sexual life.
For his part, Dr. Félix Rodezno, director of CIS El Chile, explained that the girls who have already received their first dose no longer need another dose, because they are protected for life with a single application.
2024-01-16 10:51:00
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