Georgetown : Government, from all indications, is standing firmly behind its decision to administer Gardasil, a vaccine aimed at reducing the likelihood of young girls contracting the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, in his presentation of the 2012 Budget under the theme “remaining on course, united in purpose, prosperity for all” has described the move as “boosting the armoury of vaccines to provide national coverage against the HPV.”
The HPV vaccine was launched in January and several critics have since voiced their concerns about the vaccine. Among the concerns that have been echoed is the need for better awareness of the vaccine which, according to one concern group of women, has several side-effects. In fact the group in a petition to Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, in January called for the vaccination programme to be “terminated with immediate effect” until the questions associated with the vaccine are answered. According to the women’s group their concerns are rooted in the fact that the Ministry has not adequately furnished families with information about the effects of the vaccine that have the potential of emerging years later. “We hereby request further and detailed information about the Ministry’s decision to inoculate these children against the HPV in a vaccination programme purportedly to protect them from cervical cancer and other related diseases they are likely to contract in their adulthood,” the petition outlined.
However, according to the Finance Minister, the vaccine will continue to be administered to girls from age 11 “along with intensive sensitisation programmes” in order to alleviate the occurrence of cervical cancer.
Although a cost for the vaccination programme was not outlined by the Finance Minister or the current Minister of Health (Dr Ramsaran), former Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy had anticipated that approximately $40M would be expended to introduce the vaccine to about 25,000 girls and mount to about $60M to cater to 40,000.
This year a total of $16.9 billion has been allocated to the Ministry of Health in its quest to “continue the modernisation of the sector and to consolidate on the gains made over the past decade,” Dr Singh said. He revealed that Government will continue to place emphasis on decentralising services, strengthening public-private collaborations in a continued effort to reduce chronic non-communicable diseases, improve the quality of health care and access to health services and strengthen the health system.
As part of its vaccination programme this year, Dr Singh revealed that the Government has budgeted a sum of $240M to support the continued distribution of the antenatal and infant sprinkles which is aimed at improving the nutritional health of over 15,000 mothers and children.
Last year the national immunisation progamme benefited from the introduction of a new vaccine which protects against 13 infections that severely affect young children. Further some 15,147 infants between six and 24 months benefited from over 1.3 million sachets of sprinkles while 10,154 mothers received 913,860 sachets of sprinkles under the Maternal and Child Nutrition programme.
Additionally, services were expanded in the area of Maternal and Child Health with training in supervisory tools at the health centre level while the Health Qual Initiative advanced from 21 to 51 sites, Dr Singh said.
