KEY POINTS:
The Ministry of Health is considering the inclusion of cervical cancer vaccine as part of the national immunisation schedule, due to change in 2008.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said that the vaccine Gardasil will be included in that country's national immunisation programme from April.
A school vaccination programme is expected to begin in April for girls aged 12 to 13, with a "catch-up programme" through schools for girls aged between 13 and 18.
For women aged 18 to 26 the vaccine would be available for two years through GPs, Mr Howard said.
The total cost was estimated to be A$436 million ($507 million) between 2006-07 and 2009-10, he said.
The target age for receiving Gardasil is low because the vaccine works best when given to girls before they begin having sex and run the risk of HPV infection.
In New Zealand, the ministry's national immunisation programme's technical working group has been considering the vaccine as part of its recommendations for an overhaul of the schedule, to be implemented in 2008.
The recommendations are now being considered by the ministry, but will not be made public until they are presented to the Minister of Health, a spokeswoman said.
Gardasil is available through GPs for about $450.
Immunisation Advisory Centre director Dr Nikki Turner told National Radio Australia tended to take up vaccines more quickly than New Zealand.
"New Zealand on the whole tends to put less funding into its childhood vaccines than Australia does."
Dr Turner said there was a lot of good evidence around the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine, and she expected the ministry's discussions would now be centred on financial issues.
It had also been introduced on the American immunisation schedule, she said.
Cervical cancer rates in New Zealand were high among Maori women, older women and women in lower socio-economic groups.
She said the HPV virus was widespread amongst nearly all sexually active women.
The vaccine was likely to be about 70 per cent effective in preventing cervical cancer, she said.
- NZPA
