Cancer charities are urging a greater take-up of the HPV vaccine, as latest figures show that the vaccination rate for both boys and girls is below target.
A new HPV Aware campaign, which is supported by Irish Cancer Society, the Marie Keating Foundation and Trinity College Dublin's CERVIVA, is being launched this morning.
ICS Director of Advocacy and External Affairs Rachel Morrogh said that the Health Service Executive's target is that 85% of children in their first year of secondary school be fully vaccinated.
However, provisional figures for the 2020/2021 school year indicate that vaccination levels are at 74% for girls and 71% for boys.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Morrogh described these figures as "a long way off from" the target and possibly as a result of the "considerable disruption" to schools due to the Covid pandemic.
Ultimately, the goal is to achieve the World Health Organization's 90% vaccination rate, she said.
As part of the new awareness campaign, the parents and guardians of first-year students in secondary schools around the country will be receiving a consent pack regarding the vaccine in the coming weeks.
Ms Morrogh said that awareness is low and described the vaccine as a "really positive choice".
"It's just amazing to think about the fact that a vaccine does exist that can prevent cancer," she said.
Speaking on the same programme, GP Dr Phil Kieran said a lot of people feel that HPV is quite rare, "whereas in reality up to 80% of the population has been exposed to HPV at one stage or another in their life, so it's incredibly common."
HPV, or the human papillomavirus, can cause cancer and genital warts in both women and men.
Dr Kieran said if HPV only caused warts "that would be one thing, but we now know that they are almost the entire cause of cervical cancer and are heavily implicated in a number of other cancers.
"When we do research to ask people what they know about HPV, we find a bit of a disconnect with reality.
"Firstly a lot of people feel that HPV is quite rare, whereas in reality up to 80% of the population has been exposed to HPV at one stage or another in their life, so it's incredibly common.
"For most people who get HPV, their bodies will clear it and that's the end of it. That's the end of the story, but for a small number of people HPV can be incorporated into their cells' DNA and that can cause changes that can go on to become cancer."
Since September 2019, boys and girls in their first year of secondary school have been offered the HPV vaccine as part of the school vaccination programme.
HPV vaccine is offered to this age group because the response to the vaccine is best at this age.
