- This is an opportunity to ensure that future generations of Polish women no longer have to fight cervical cancer, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said. The HPV vaccination program for girls and boys aged 12-13 was announced today (26.05.). It will be possible to sign up for the vaccination starting Saturday (27.05.).
HPV vaccination program launches. Enrollment starting Saturday
Published May 26, 2023 12:31
fot. Piotr Wójcik
As Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed, the vaccinations will be free and voluntary.
- Health is not and cannot be a commodity, it is a priceless value. We want all girls and boys to be able to take advantage of this vaccine voluntarily, but also free of charge. We want to take advantage of the benefits of modern science and medicine, and put as much emphasis as possible on prevention, on cancer prevention. Today, more than half of women lose the battle against cervical cancer. I hope that this will soon be different. This is a great and important day," stressed the head of the Polish government.
People will be able to sign up for the vaccination starting Saturday at 7 a.m. Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said that the paperwork for making an appointment will be handled in a similar way to that for the coronavirus vaccination: through the Internet Patient Account or the 989 hotline.
- We join the best, a group of countries that have already had a vaccination campaign for years. This includes Australia, which almost no longer has a problem with the incidence of cervical cancer. The vaccination will target boys and girls in the 2010 and 2011 birth years, the health minister indicated.
Vaccination will be carried out using commercially available formulations of the bivalent or nine-valent vaccine. Both of these vaccines are two-dose. There are currently 1,300 vaccination points, and a map of them can be consulted on a special service launched by the Health Ministry.
The medical community is pleased with the launch of the HPV vaccination program. Prof. Andrzej Nowakowski, a specialist in obstetrics, gynecology and gynecological oncology, stresses that the vaccine protects not only against cervical cancer.
- These also include vulvar and vaginal cancers and anal cancers. Perhaps this panel will further expand to include head and neck cancers. Importantly, the vaccination of girls and boys aged 12-13 reduces the risk of cervical cancer by nearly 90 percent. It is also important that there are no post-vaccination reactions," stressed Prof. Andrzej Nowakowski.
Prof. Ewa Augustynowicz of the National Institute of Public Health of the National Institute of Public Health of the Polish Academy of Sciences, meanwhile, noted that the safety of the HPV vaccine is supported by 15 years of observations. To date, more than 500 million doses of the product have been administered worldwide.
