Protection against cancer virus

Dr Tania Pinfold says not enough young people are getting HPV vaccinations. Photo / File

A Rotorua doctor says more local parents should get their children vaccinated against a cancer-causing virus.

The HPV vaccination is available to all Year 8 girls and is free up to their 20th birthday, either through a school-based immunisation programme or through their family doctor.

According to Ministry of Health statistics, the rate of Rotorua girls taking up the free HPV vaccination is higher than the national average at 66 per cent.

Nationwide, about 60 per cent of all girls eligible to receive the vaccine have completed all three doses. HPV, or the human papillomavirus, is the most common cause of genital cancers, including cervical cancer.

For this reason, the Government funds the vaccine for girls and not for boys. HPV has also been recently linked to throat cancer.

Four out of five people become infected with HPV at some time in their lives. The peak incidence of HPV infection is between the ages of 16 and 20.

Rotovegas Youth Health clinical leader Tania Pinfold said a growing number of Rotorua parents were paying for their boys to have the vaccine.

She said the HPV vaccination rates should be higher for boys and girls.

"The rates of HPV in the general population are so high that everybody should have the benefit of this immunisation. This is one immunisation that we know makes a huge difference to rates of certain cancers in men and women. The more people who are immunised, the better.

"It is still as important and as relevant as ever. There is a steady rate of young people getting it but it could be a higher rate.What parent wouldn't want to give their child the gift of protection from a common cancer?"

She said some "misguided" parents believed the immunisation would change the sexual behaviour of their children.

"This defies logic.

"It is a very important issue because this is a treatment for cancer, this is a prevention. HPV vaccine prevents certain cancers. Why would you not do that?"

Dr Pinfold said the vaccine was related to a national decrease in genital warts and cancers.

The HPV immunisation programme started in New Zealand in 2008 and involves three doses by injection.

About 150 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 50 women die from it each year in New Zealand. National HPV immunisation rates have been steady over time, with no obvious trend either upwards or downwards.