KEY POINTS:
The cervical cancer vaccine being rolled out in a new immunisation programme for young women is safe and allergic reactions are rare, says the Ministry of Health.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme was available from Monday, at no cost, to 17 and 18-year-old women.
Australian researchers have found that young women who received the HPV vaccine were five to 20 times more likely to have a rare but severe allergic reaction than girls who received other vaccines.
The team of Australian researchers led by Julia Brotherton of The Children's Hospital at Westmead studied 114,000 young women vaccinated with the Gardasil (HPV) vaccine as part of a 2007 vaccination programme in New South Wales.
Of these, 12 had suspected cases of anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can cause breathing difficulty, nausea and rashes, they reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Eight out of the 12 young women had confirmed anaphylactic reactions after getting the vaccine, for an estimated rate of reaction of 2.6 per 100,000 doses administered. That compared with a rate of 0.1 per 100,000 doses in a 2003 school-based meningitis vaccination programme.
The researchers said the severe allergic reactions to the human papillomavirus or HPV vaccine were unusual and manageable and the vaccine remained safe.
Ministry of Health deputy director of public health Fran McGrath said the vaccine was tested and considered by Medsafe, New Zealand's medicines and medical devices safety authority.
"The vaccine was shown to have an excellent safety profile during large clinical trials in which more than 20,000 people from 30 countries took part."
It said very rarely did people have more serious allergic reactions to vaccinations (such as anaphylaxis).
Common reactions to the vaccine were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, and less common were fever, vomiting and fainting.
There were no cases of anaphylaxis in New Zealand, but since HPV's licensing in NZ in July 2006, there were 10 adverse event reports - these included whole body tiredness, vomiting, diarrhoea and arm pain, said Dr McGrath.
The vaccine was licensed for use in more than 100 countries.
Reactions to the vaccine had been carefully reviewed, she said.
Every year in New Zealand, about 160 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 60 died from it. The immunisation programme was projected to save more than 30 lives a year, in the longer term.
Health providers informed parents and women who were receiving the vaccination about the possible reactions.
The Australian researchers said while there were severe allergic reactions to the vaccine, it should not discourage its use.
The vaccine targets four strains of the human papillomavirus, a common sexually transmitted virus that causes genital warts and most cases of cervical cancer.
- NZPA
