The first vaccine to protect against cervical cancer is set to become available in Ireland.<\/p>\n
Medical experts meeting in Prague have hailed the development of a vaccine as a major breakthrough in the fight against cervical cancer.<\/p>\n
In 2002, Hillary Coffey Farrell was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Following chemotherapy and surgery, she made a full recovery. Although she knew little about the condition at the time of her diagnosis, she soon realised she was far from alone when treatment began.<\/p>\n
Ireland has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in Western Europe, with approximately 70 women dying from the disease each year. At an international conference in Prague, medical experts announced the arrival of a new vaccine designed to prevent the illness.<\/p>\n
The vaccine, marketed as Gardasil and produced by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, is the first of two cervical cancer vaccines expected to reach the market. It is aimed primarily at girls aged around 12 and is administered in three doses over a six-month period. A full course costs approximately \u20ac300.<\/p>\n
Described by experts as a vaccine capable of preventing not just cervical cancer but a range of related cancers, Gardasil is being welcomed as a significant advance in cancer prevention. Specialists believe it could save many lives in countries such as Ireland, where a national cervical screening programme has yet to be introduced.<\/p>\n
Professor Ron Jones, a gynaecologist at the University of Auckland, described the vaccine as the most important development in the field in the past 50 years.<\/p>\n
The vaccine provides protection for five years against the viral strains responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. It is expected to be available in Ireland from next month, while an expert group is due to advise the Department of Health and Children on whether a national vaccination programme should be introduced for girls aged around 12.<\/p>\n
An RT\u00c9 News report broadcast on 5 September 2006. The reporter is Fergal Bowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first vaccine to protect against cervical cancer is set to become available in Ireland. Medical experts meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[19587,103,61,60],"class_list":["post-615565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cervical-cancer","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}