PARIS, Oct. 18 (Benin News) –
The Public Health Commission, in which the Autonomous Communities and the Ministry of Health are represented, will “soon” consider the financing of the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) in children, sources have learned. sanitary facilities at Europa Press.
MadridAndalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and Valencia already vaccinate or have announced that they will vaccinate children against HPV from 2023 and free for families.
Galicia was the first community to begin, on September 15, HPV vaccination for 12-year-old children (born since January 2010). In Valencia, a total of 701 children aged 12 (born in 2010) have already been vaccinated since its inclusion on October 1 in the vaccination schedule for Valencian children.
In Andalusia, the president of the regional government, Juanma Moreno, has announced that it will be incorporated from January 1, 2023, so that next year it will be possible to inoculate the more than 47,000 boys living in Andalusia and born in 2011. According to him, this will represent “a saving of 345 euros per vaccinated child for Andalusian families”, since this is the current price of the vaccine without financing.
In Madrid, regional health minister Enrique Ruiz Escudero announced on Tuesday that the regional government will start vaccinating children against the human papillomavirus as soon as the ministry authorizes it. Indeed, he argued that the purchase of vaccines will be authorized this Wednesday.
Last Thursday, Murcia already authorized the purchase of the human papillomavirus vaccine for children over 11 years old for a total amount of 468,000 euros for one year. A total of 10,000 children aged 11 (born in 2011) will benefit. They will receive the vaccines in schools throughout the school year, with the first dose being administered this year.
In May, Catalonia announced that it would include vaccination against human papillomavirus for children aged 11 to 12 in the vaccination schedule for the next school year 2022-2023. In total, it will invest 8.2 million euros to buy 175,000 doses, including 70,000 for boys.
As for Castilla-La Mancha, its president, Emiliano García-Page, announced during the debate on the state of the region a fortnight ago that his government will include the vaccine in children aged 12.
WHAT IS PHV AND ITS VACCINE
The human papillomavirus is the cause of transmissible infections of the skin (cutaneous and genital warts) and mucous membranes. There is a known association between HPV infection and cervical cancer.
The main way of transmission of the papillomavirus is sexual. Oral sex and skin contact in the genital area are also transmission routes. Once contracted, the virus, which most people will come into contact with throughout their lives, can lie dormant for many years without causing symptoms.
In most cases, the immune system eliminates it, but there is a percentage of the population who will carry the virus without knowing it and who, if they do not take the appropriate measures, will spread it.
There are different HPV genotypes with different oncogenic risk: high-risk genotypes can cause low- and high-grade precancerous and cancerous lesions of the cervix, vagina and vulva in women, anus in both sexes and penis in men.
The vaccine administered in Valencia and the one that will be administered in Andalusia and Murcia is Gardasil 9, from MSD, which incorporates nine serotypes and offers protection against the most frequent tumors linked to this virus, as well as genital warts. Two doses are inoculated, 6-12 months apart.
Since 2007, routine HPV vaccination has been included in the childhood vaccination schedule for girls under 14, and currently several expert associations have called for vaccination to be extended to boys, including the Advisory Committee on vaccines from the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP).
Among the reasons justifying the vaccination of boys, these experts point out that, of all the cases of cancerous pathology linked to HPV, a quarter are men; as well as the increased incidence of HPV-related head and neck cancer and anal cancer, especially in boys. In addition, the vaccine protects against HPV-related cancer in both sexes.