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Boys included in HPV vaccination campaign – a critical step
“Vaccinating boys with the HPV vaccine is a critical step forward. Even though Guyana missed the original timeline of 2015, it is still in the forefront of developing countries when it comes to HPV vaccines.”
This is according to former Health Minister under the PPP/C regime, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, on the heels of an announcement by Senior Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence. Minister Lawrence revealed plans earlier this week to expand her Ministry’s vaccination campaign to include boys.
According to Dr. Ramsammy, “The Minister of Public Health’s announcement that the HPV Vaccine Programme will be extended to boys is correcting a grave mis-step since this progressive move is already more than three years late from the timeline established in 2010, when I was Minister of Health.”
“At the time, we promised HPV vaccine would become part of the immunization programme by 2011, starting with vaccination of girls age nine to 11 years. Parents of girls 12 to 15 years old were encouraged to bring in their daughters for vaccination also.
“At the time, we established 2015 as the start date for extending HPV vaccination to boys between nine and 11 years old. The announcement by the Minister that the programme will now include boys is a case of ‘better late than never’,” Dr. Ramsammy said.
He recalled the details for the roll out of the HPV vaccination initiative at its launch at the Grove Health Center, beginning with girls 9 to 11 years old in 2011 and including the vaccination of boys by 2015.
At that time he said, “We also announced by 2020, we would begin providing HPV vaccines for women 20 to 40 years old who did not have the HPV vaccines, which would be the vast majority of Guyanese women of that age group.
“Interestingly, the US started the adult women HPV vaccine programme in 2018. When we launched the HPV Vaccine Initiative in 2011 with its rollout details, the initiative was one of the most ambitious HPV Initiatives in the World,” Dr. Ramsammy divulged.
HPV vaccine is intended to safeguard persons from the Human Papilloma Virus which is a viral infection that is passed between people through skin-to-skin contact. However, there are more than 100 varieties of HPV, 40 of which are passed through sexual contact.
Former Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy.
HPV infections can cause cervical cancers in women, cancers of the back of the throat, known as oropharyngeal cancer, cancer in the anus, in both women and men, and penis in men. Cancers of the back of the throat have now surpassed cervical cancer as the most common type of cancer caused by HPV.
Unlike cervical cancer in women, there are no recommended screening tests for the other types of cancers that HPV causes, so they may not be found until they cause health problems.
According to Dr. Ramsammy, the move to include boys is an important strategic move by the Ministry in its fight against cervical cancer and is a critical initiative in the overall anti-cancer fight.
As part of its efforts to ramp up its own fight, Dr. Ramsammy said the PPP Government had invested in the HPV Vaccine Initiative because global research had shown HPV was, and is, a common virus that infects both men and women.
He noted that studies show that HPV is so common that eight out of 10 people will get an HPV infection at some point in their lifetime. The HPV Vaccine Initiative, therefore, was more than an Initiative to stop cervical cancer.
While best known as a critical strategy in the fight against cervical cancer, HPV vaccines are now seen as a potent tool in the fight against several cancers. This is why, we must spare no effort to ensure universal access to HPV vaccines for our children and other vulnerable groups.
“Once we have universal access to HPV vaccines in Guyana, we have a good chance of reducing the incidence of cervical cancer by greater than 70 percent by 2030 and also to have a prevention success in the fight against other cancers,” said the former Health Minister.
“It is, therefore, encouraging that Guyana is implementing the programme, as originally envisaged, even if it is disappointing that the timelines have shifted. I encourage the Ministry of Public Health to hasten forward with the timelines,” said Dr. Ramsammy.
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