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Although the project that would create the new Immunization Act for Minors and Students have not come to be considered in this ordinary session, several lawmakers said yesterday that they will continue to insist that the vaccine against Human papillomavirus (HPV) is not included in the school itinerary required for the month of August.
"I will ask for a meeting with the Secretary of Health (Rafael Rodríguez Mercado)because there must be hundreds of kids who do not have this vaccine and i do not know if they'll have it by August right now"Said the representative Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló.
In June of last year, Rodriguez Mercado announced that in August 2018, all 11 and 12 year old students will be invited to be vaccinated against HPV.
However, in the context of House Bill 1303, a measure that was filed at the request of VOCES, Puerto Rico Vaccination CoalitionTo create a new law on immunization, several lawmakers had planned that they would ask the health secretary to remove the requirements of the HPV vaccine as a requirement of the school.
"We will insist that it is not mandatory"Reiterated Rodríguez Aguiló, who had presented another resolution to investigate the effectiveness and safety of this vaccine.
Representative Juan Oscar Morales, Chair of the Health Commission and author of Project 1303, agreed that the new requirement for HPV vaccination should be lifted, at least for now.
"The (Secretary of Health) has not left it in abeyance, but our request (for doing so) is still standing," he said.
Morales commented that Rodríguez Mercado said that the school requirements for this vaccine is based on the concern of an increased incidence of cervical cancer of the uterine cervix.
Meanwhile, Concepción Quiñones de Longo, Undersecretary for Health, reiterated yesterday that the mandatory HPV vaccine for boys and girls ages 11 and 12 continues.
"They should have, at least, the first dose for August," he said.
This vaccine requires two doses. The HPV vaccine protects against many of these viruses that in some cases can cause certain types of cancer, such as cervical cancer, oropharynx, penis and vulva, between other.
According to information from National Cancer Institute (INC), the Federal Agency for Drugs and Food (FDA) has approved three vaccines for the prevention of HPV infection: Gardasil, Gardasil 9 and Cervarix.
"The three vaccines protect against HPV infection of types 16 and 18, two of the high-risk human papillomaviruses that cause about 70% of cervical cancers and an even higher percentage of some other cancers caused by HPV", Says the INC.
According to information from Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that in the United States, every year, they register near 11,700 new cases of cancer of the cervix of the uterus associated with HPV.
Dr. Jose Solis, professor at the Faculty of Education of the University of Puerto Rico and a scholar of this topic, said that Dr. Diane Harper, who participated in the investigation of this vaccine, reported that it is estimated that 70% of women infected with HPV are released from this infection without any help in one year and 90% in two years. Of the remaining 10%, it is estimated that at age 3, 5% could develop cervical dysplasia, a precancerous condition or abnormal changes in the cells of the cervical surface of the cervix.
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