Vienna (OTS) –
In recent months, the Vienna Medical Association has repeatedly and emphatically called for HPV vaccination to be made available free of charge up to the age of 30. The agreement reached quickly proved to be a booster for the vaccination rate: according to recent reports, the number of HPV vaccinations administered has tripled.
Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmiedfirst vice president and chairwoman of the board of general practitioners of the Medical Association of Vienna, is delighted: “The HPV vaccination protects against cervical cancer and thus reduces the suffering of patients and their families. That is why it was so important to me to campaign so vehemently for this important vaccination to be free of charge and to persuade politicians to reach a reasonable agreement. Vaccination is one of the most important tools for preventing serious infections and diseases. It is therefore necessary to continue to facilitate access to all vaccinations recommended by the National Vaccination Committee in the future.”
The next important step must now be to automatically include the vaccinations recommended by the National Vaccination Committee in the free vaccination program, following the German model, and to secure statutory funding. “The fact that Austrian infants are not receiving RSV immunization this year would not have happened with such a regulation! The success of the free HPV vaccination shows that the pneumococcal vaccination, which is already established in the children’s vaccination program, should also be offered free of charge to adults. This is of enormous importance for high-risk patients. In addition, the whooping cough and RSV vaccination must be available free of charge to pregnant women,” Kamaleyan-Schmied continued.
With a view to the upcoming flu season, the chairwoman of the Curia is pushing for significantly better preparation of the vaccination campaign than last year: “The federal government and the ÖGK have a duty to provide sufficient quantities of the appropriate vaccine this time and to properly organize distribution to doctors. Only if the process is successful can the willingness of the population to be vaccinated be increased.”
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