Parents and guidance have being urged to protect their daughters against cervical cancer by ensuring they obtain the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
The appeal was made by the Ogun state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, as the state would begin a statewide HPV vaccination campaign on Tuesday.
Speaking to newsmen ahead of the HPV vaccination exercise she noted that the vaccine will not render their daughters infertile rather protect them against cervical cancer, which she said is currently the only cancer that could be prevented with a vaccine.
Coker revealed that the HPV vaccine is aimed at girls aged nine to fourteen.
It would be a travesty, she said, if any girl developed cervical cancer in the next 50 years, and she pleaded with parents to allow their daughters to receive the vaccine.
“We are starting our HPV vaccination campaign on the 24th of October. This is targeted at our daughters between the ages of nine and 14. This is the vaccination against Human papillomavirus, which is the cause of cervical cancer in 95 percent cases.
“Cervical cancer is the only cancer that has a vaccine against it. It will be a travesty if, perhaps, any of our daughters in 50 to 60 years time end up with cervical cancer because we the parents have chosen for them to have this cervical cancer.
“My appeal to parents is to allow their daughters take the vaccine. I am a parent myself. I have one daughter and she has taken the vaccine at the age of 12, she’s now 26.
“So, I’m appealing to you to ignore the videos that have gone viral giving misinformation. The HPV vaccine doesn’t sterilise, and it does not render our children infertile. Rather, it keeps them safe and not ending up dying from cervical cancer,” Coker added.
