The Ogun State Government has appealed to parents and guardians to save their daughters from cervical cancer by ensuring they receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
This is as the Ogun State Government commences the statewide HPV vaccination on Tuesday.
Speaking with newsmen ahead of the HPV vaccination exercise, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, urged parents to disregard the rumour that the vaccine would make their daughters infertile.
According to her, the vaccine is mainly to protect them against cervical cancer, which she said is currently the only cancer that could be prevented with a vaccine.
Coker disclosed that the HPV vaccine is targeted at girls between the ages of nine and 14.
Urging parents to make their daughters available for the vaccine, she said: “We are starting our HPV vaccination campaign on the 24th of October. This is targeted at our daughters between the ages of nine and 14. This is the vaccination against Human Papillomavirus, which is the cause of cervical cancer in 95 percent of cases.
“Cervical cancer is the only cancer that has a vaccine against it. It will be a travesty if, perhaps, any of our daughters in 50 to 60 years’ time end up with cervical cancer because we, the parents, have chosen for them to have this cancer.
“My appeal to parents is to allow their daughters to take the vaccine. I am a parent myself. I have one daughter and she took the vaccine at the age of 12. She’s now 26.”
She also added: “I’m appealing to you to ignore the videos that have gone viral, giving misinformation. The HPV vaccine doesn’t sterilise, and it does not render our children infertile. Rather, it keeps them safe and prevents them from ending up dying from cervical cancer.”
