Saskatchewan to vaccinate girls for HPV

Young girls in Saskatchewan will soon be vaccinated against a virus that can cause cancer.

The provincial government is spending close to $3 million on a provincewide human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program that will see, beginning this fall, all girls in Grade 6 and 7 in Saskatchewan schools receive the vaccine.

Certain types of the virus are sexually transmitted andcan cause genital warts and cervical cancer. The vaccine is considered most effective before girls become sexually active.

"The problem with waiting until later for this particular vaccine is that it's not nearly as effective once girls or women become sexually active," said Dr. Ross Findlater, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer.

Regina's Planned Parenthood applauds the move but its executive director, Barb McWatters, said she had hoped the program would include more people.

She worries that at $400 a treatment, the cost of the vaccine may be prohibitive for people who don't get it for free.

The Saskatchewan Cancer Society is also concerned the price will deter people.

However, Findlater said, the province simply can't afford to include any more people in the publicly funded program.

"Unfortunately the older children will have to depend on their families trying to pay for it," he said. "The girls we are not immunizing right away will, of course, get older each year and some of them will have been infected already."

Women up to the age of 26 can still buy the vaccine through their doctors, he said. The vaccine protects against strains of HPV that cause 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.

About 45 new cases are reported in Saskatchewan each year.