PMC to provide cervical cancer vaccine to girls in municipal schools

PMC has announced to provide vaccines for the prevention of cervical cancer to girls aged between 9 and 14 years through their schools

Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has announced to provide vaccines for the prevention of cervical cancer to girls aged between 9 and 14 years through their schools. The girls will be given shots of India’s first quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus (qHPV) Cervavac vaccine.

PMC has announced to provide vaccines for the prevention of cervical cancer to girls aged between 9 and 14 years through their schools. (Shutterstock (PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))

According to doctors at PMC’s health department, Cervavac is the first homegrown Indian HPV vaccine for preventing cervical cancer. It acts against four types of HPV (HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18) and hence known as a quadrivalent vaccine. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women after breast, lung, and colorectal cancer, with the country accounting for nearly one-fourth of the world’s cervical cancer deaths.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted market authorisation to the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture the indigenous HPV vaccine.

Dr Rajesh Dighe, PMC medical officer, said, “Though the Union health ministry has included immunisation under the National Health Programme, it will take around a year for the initiative to start on the ground. So, we have decided to start vaccination at municipal schools in Pune city. As per available funds, we have floated tender and called firms to provide single dose vials. We have decided to vaccinate girls studying in Class 8 and Class 9.”

The PMC education department runs 287 Marathi, English, Urdu and Kannada medium schools for around one lakh students.

When asked if similar programme has been undertaken by the state as well, Dr Sanjeevkumar Jathar, assistant director, Information and Education Communication (IEC) bureau said, “At present, the state government has not started any immunisation for cervical cancer. We are only screening cases.”

SII manufactures five crore units of vaccine

SII’s Cervavac “HPV” vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer is accessible in the market with plans for increased production to facilitate distribution through the government in the next six months, according to details given by Cyrus Poonawalla, managing director, SII on Monday.

During a media interaction following the conference inauguration at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Poonawala said the vaccine’s availability would be expanded at an affordable rate for the government. Currently, five crore units of the vaccine have been manufactured, and the production scale-up is in progress. The goal is to produce approximately ten crore units to meet the government’s demand.

Cervical cancer

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually-transmitted infection that can affect genitals, mouth and throat. There are over 100 types of HPV and 14 types are considered as high-risk. HPV types 16 and 18 together contribute to approximately 70 per cent of all invasive cervical cancer cases worldwide. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in India and accounts for about a fifth of the global burden of cervical cancer. Every year about 1.23 lakh new cases and around 77,000 deaths are reported in India.