They weren’t really looking forward to another vaccination, but Sabine Sanders (23) and Lennart Alderlieste (25) went to get it anyway: an injection against HPV, the human papillomavirus. Together, the couple walks out of the vaccination location of the GGD at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, the injections have just been made.
“I was more bothered by the vaccinations against corona than by corona itself, I didn’t feel like sitting shivering by the heating again,” says Alderlieste. Nevertheless, they were both quickly convinced that they should also get this HPV shot. It is “a small effort,” says Sanders, to reduce the risk of cancer.
This Saturday, young people between the ages of 19 and 27 could visit 45 GGD locations for a free HPV shot. Since 2009, girls have been offered the vaccinations – you have to get two to be protected – as standard, initially in the year they turned thirteen, now when they turn ten. Since last year, boys have also been invited, because it has become clear that HPV can also cause cancer in men. In the Netherlands, 1,100 women and almost 400 men get cancer from HPV every year, the RIVM estimates. In addition to cervical cancer, the sexually transmitted virus can lead to throat cancer, penile cancer, anal cancer and vaginal cancer.
Read here how well the vaccine protects against cervical cancer
‘puncture fatigue’
As part of a ‘catch-up campaign’, all young people up to the age of 27 have been invited for an injection this year. RIVM hopes to reach “as many young people as possible”, says Jeanne-Marie Hament, responsible for the national vaccination program within RIVM. There is no target percentage.
Convincing to vaccinate is not that easy at the moment: “We do see some needle fatigue after corona.” The turnout within the entire RIVM national vaccination program has fallen slightly. In babies fell for example, the vaccination rate from 91.3 percent in 2021 to 90.1 percent in 2022.
In addition, young people are “a complicated group to reach,” says Hament. “They are not so concerned with stings and diseases.” A total of 1.3 million invitation letters were sent. In addition, RIVM has tried to encourage the target group through videos on YouTube, commercials on radio station FunX and a chat channel on Instagram.
Came for nothing
Young people are steadily trickling in at the GGD location in Utrecht. Especially guys. Most come out successfully pricked, but eighteen-year-old Brandon Brookman from De Meern came with his father for nothing this afternoon: he is still a year too young. “Strange,” says his father – he had seen in the news that young people from the age of eighteen could walk in without an appointment, but that turns out to be nineteen. Brandon does want to get the shot at another time. He has not studied it extensively, he says, but: “It can’t hurt.” He knows that the jab can help prevent cancer – he finds that convincing enough.
Ivan Tamaela (22) from Maarssen already feels the arm where the injection was made becoming a bit stiff. He also had “no doubt” whether he should go and get it. His girlfriend had already had the vaccination. “That lowers the threshold.”
By no means all young people and children and their parents are so convinced of the need for this injection. Long before the debate over vaccinations during the pandemic heated up, the HPV shot was already controversial. When it was introduced in 2009, relatively few girls attended: 47 percent. There was fear of side effects and doubts about its usefulness.
Confidence grows
Meanwhile, the number of girls for the HPV shot has increased. “75 percent of 16-year-old girls have now been vaccinated,” says Jeanne-Marie Hamen of the RIVM. “We still have a lot to do, but we do think that confidence is growing.”
There are two ways to reduce cancer rates: get people to stop smoking and get rid of HPV
About 80 percent of all people will be infected with HPV at some point. In the majority, the body clears the virus itself, but in a small group it leads to cancer.
“There are two ways to reduce the number of cancer cases: getting people to stop smoking and getting HPV out of the world,” says gynecologist Gemma Kenter of AmsterdamUMC and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, a hospital specializing in cancer. According to her, the vaccine can make an important contribution to this.
The RIVM does not yet know how many injections were given this Saturday. It is known that 160,000 young people have made an appointment since the invitations were sent, about 12 percent of the group.
