CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has rolled out Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination of girl children aged 14 years in all government hospitals in the state, after it received 2.65 lakh doses of the vaccine from the Government of India. The vaccines were received after PM Narendra Modi launched the nationwide HPV vaccination campaign last week.
According to health department officials, the state has estimated 7,73,940 girls of 14 years for the drive, and awareness will be created for eligible girls to get vaccinated so as to prevent the risk of cervical cancer.
The vaccine is already being administered in the private sector. Now under the government programme, it will be provided free of cost after informed parental consent to all girls of 14 years of age. It may be noted that TN had already launched HPV vaccination campaign on a pilot basis in four districts — Ariyalur, Perambalur, Dharmapuri and Tiruvannamalai — targeting 27,000 children. The campaign in these districts has been completed with the administration of a single dose to girls of 14 years of age, health officials said.
Speaking to TNIE, Dr A Somasundaram, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said the children will be vaccinated in all government hospitals from medical college hospitals to PHCs. It is a single dose vaccine and will be given on all days at the hospitals, he added.
In 2024, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced incorporating the HPV vaccination in the National Immunisation Schedule. However, health department officials said it has not been incorporated under the National Immunisation Schedule yet.
According to the TN Cancer Registry Project (TNCP) report, the incidence rate of cervical cancer is 14.0 per lakh population for the state. The statistics for the year 2018 by the Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar, and TN health department, the highest incidence of cervical cancer was observed in Dharmapuri.
The TNCP report released at the end of 2023 showed that the Crude Incidence Rate (CIR) of cervical cancer among women in Chennai was 13.0 per one lakh women, while the same in Dharmapuri was 36.2, followed by Perambalur (36.0) and Ariyalur (29.9).