Island Health nurses are visiting schools across the region in the coming weeks to offer the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to grade 11 and 12 students.
Island Health says the vaccine helps protect against types of HPV that can cause various cancers, and benefits everyone, no matter their sex, gender, sexual orientation, or sexual activity status.
“Nurses continue to routinely visit students in grade 6 to offer the HPV vaccine and now we are offering this to students who may have missed it in the past,” says Medical Health Officer Dr. Christina Kay.
“When given at a young age, the HPV vaccine is nearly 100 per cent effective at preventing infection of the most common types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer, other cancers, and genital warts.”
Across Island Health in 2023, an average 55 percent of children in grade 6 were immunized for HPV (North Island 47 percent, Central Vancouver Island 53.9 percent, South Vancouver Island 65 per cent).
HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections that can be transmitted both sexually and through skin-to-skin contact.
About 75 percent of sexually active people who have not received their HPV vaccination will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Dr. Kay notes that more than 200 million doses of the HPV vaccine have been given worldwide and says over 15 years of monitoring continues to show that the vaccine is safe and effective.
Parents, caregivers and students will receive a letter from Island Health through their schools this and next month informing them of the upcoming immunization clinics.
To learn more, visit Island Health.
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