KUALA LUMPUR: Form Three female students will be given priority for the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination before being dispensed to Form One female students, says Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
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The Health Minister said a total of 336, 592 female students from the 2020 to 2022 cohort have yet to receive their HPV doses.
“The HPV vaccine will be given to the female students from the Form One 2021 group who are now in Form Three.
“After the vaccination programme involving this 2021 group is completed, the ministry will proceed with the respective groups depending on the supply of vaccines we manage to procure this year.
“The ministry is hoping to finish dispensing the vaccination programme for the students before they complete their schooling,” she told Dewan Rakyat during the Minister’s Question Time on Thursday (June 8).
Dr Zaliha was replying to a question from Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong) who wanted to know the status of the HPV injection for more than 500,000 girls who have missed the injection from 2020 to 2022.
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She also wanted to know whether the acquisition of the HPV vaccine at RM120mil has been allocated for the year 2023.
So far, a total of 34,933 or 15.7% Form One female students from the 2021 cohort have received one dose of the HPV injection from the vaccine supply stock from 2020.
Dr Zaliha added that 187,151 or 84.3% female students were supposed to receive their HPV injection in 2021, but the vaccination programme was delayed due to a global supply shortage of the vaccines.
The HPV vaccines are administered to prevent cervical cancer and are typically dispensed to Form One female students under the government’s national immunisation programme.
In December last year, the ministry was able to procure a total of 100,000 HPV vaccine doses when the price of the injection rose six fold and has been dispensed to Form One female students across the country.
– The Star