According to the latest centralization carried out by the Ministry of Health, at the end of June, 56,841 doses of the HPV vaccine were available in the offices of family doctors and in the warehouses of health departments.

From January 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022, 30,201 applications for vaccination were registered in family doctors’ offices (16,545 applications for HPV vaccination for girls aged 11-14 and 13,665 applications for HPV vaccination for girls aged 15-18). years), according to the Report on HPV vaccination conducted by the National Institute of Public Health – National Center for Surveillance and Control of Infectious Diseases.

In the first 6 months of this year, 52,066 doses of the HPV vaccine were used as part of the free vaccination campaign of the Ministry of Health.

Two doses are required to immunize girls under 14 years of age, and three doses for those older than this age.

Vaccination against HPV is free of charge and is carried out in the offices of family doctors to girls aged 11 to 18 on the basis of submitted applications.

Requests are centralized in chronological order by the date of registration, the territorial health department receives a request about the number of vaccine doses required for immunization every quarter, the Ministry of Health notes.

Vaccination against HPV is the best method of preventing cervical cancer, so the Ministry of Health urges parents to contact family doctors and specialists about the benefits of this type of vaccination.

120,000 Romanian adolescent girls were vaccinated in the first 2.5 years of the campaign

Almost 120,000 Romanian adolescent girls between the ages of 11 and 18 have been vaccinated against HPV, the world’s most notorious sexually transmitted viral infection, responsible for several types of cancer, most notably cervical cancer, in the first 2.5 years years of the free campaign run by the Ministry of Health, data obtained exclusively by HotNews.ro shows.

The free HPV vaccination campaign run by the Ministry of Health started in 2020 and currently targets girls aged 11 to 18. In the first year and a half, the campaign was aimed only at girls between the ages of 11 and 14, but last autumn it was extended to the age group of 11-18 years through an order signed by Ioana Mykhailo, the Minister of Health at the time, in the last days of her mandate .

Ioana Mihăilă, while in the position of Minister of Health, said that the issue of spreading the vaccination campaign to boys is also being considered – other countries also vaccinate boys against HPV for free.

After the departure of Ioana Mihaile from the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Amalia Sherban, the director of the institution, stated during the debate “Policy and strategy of oncology treatment / controversies”, organized by the magazine Health Policy and the Romanian Association of International Manufacturers of Medicines, that to the order of the Minister, which sets out which categories are eligible for free HPV vaccination under the National Vaccination Programme, will be amended to include boys rather than only girls aged 11 to 18 as at present.

After that moment there was silence on this topic.

HotNews.ro recently asked the Ministry of Health, based on Law 544/2001 on access to information of public interest, to clarify whether it is currently considering the possibility of extending free HPV vaccination to boys as well and what is the time horizon for this as well free vaccination of boys should be possible.

The Ministry of Health informed HotNews.ro that this option is still under consideration and that the vaccination can also be extended to boys within the limits of the allocated funds: “Regarding the vaccination of boys against HPV, the specialists of the specialized commissions, Accordingly, the Commission on Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology and Oncology The Ministry of Health is conducting an analysis, and a decision will be made in this regard,” said the response of the institution headed by Alexandru Rafil to HotNews.ro’s request.

“When the discussions are completed, the conclusions will be made public. The Ministry of Health is inclined to adopt examples in this regard that exist in other countries and will be able to expand the program within the limits of the allocated funds,” the Ministry of Health clarified in response to HotNews.ro’s request.

Almost every sexually active person will be exposed to at least one strain of HPV during their lifetime

Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the world’s most famous sexually transmitted viral infection, responsible for several types of cancer. Cervical cancer is only the best known and most common, but it is far from the only one. The HPV virus can also cause cancer of the larynx, pharynx, penis, vulva, anus, or skin. Almost every sexually active person will be exposed to at least one strain of HPV during their lifetime.

Each year, approximately 3,300 Romanian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer. More than half of them lost the fight against the disease, Romania is the EU country with the highest mortality from cervical cancer.

Although the current free vaccination campaign started in the first year of the pandemic and has not been duplicated by any vaccination information or advertising campaign carried out by the authorities, the number of teenage girls immunized as part of the campaign is increasing year by year. The resulting figures are exclusively revealed by HotNews .ro.

The current vaccination campaign appears to be extremely successful, if we recall the first such campaign carried out in Romania in 2008. Then most of the vaccine doses were thrown away, and only 2% (2,600) of the appropriate vaccinated girls (110,000 girls aged 9 to 11).

In addition, the massive failure of the 2008 campaign meant that Romania stopped procuring HPV vaccines for the free immunization campaign for more than a decade.

On the other hand, the current success of the campaign should be viewed with caution if we look at other countries: Australia has set itself the goal of completely eradicating cervical cancer within the next 20 years (Australia and the UK have expanded HPV vaccination to boys). , who also carry the virus), and the United States has extended HPV vaccination to age 45 for both women and men. There are also countries that have implemented “catch-up” programs for girls who were unable to receive the vaccine between the ages of 9 and 14 and administer it for free between the ages of 15 and 25.

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