KUALA LUMPUR: The HPV (Human papillomavirus) vaccination drive programme, which was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be brought up to par this year, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
In a written parliamentary reply, the Health Minister said while immunisation coverage had exceeded 95% up to 2020, there was a temporary disruption in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"This has directly impacted the HPV immunisation of Form 1 students from the 2021 to 2024 cohorts," he said.
He said a total of 208,500 (98.3%) Form 1 students for the 2019 cohort have completed their HPV immunisation, followed by 209,279 (96.7%) for the 2020 cohort and 113,708 (52.3%) for the 2021 cohort.
However, none from the 2022 and 2023 cohorts received their shots due to the unavailability of vaccines, he added.
"Therefore, to ensure no student is left out from the HPV vaccination drive, those who were left behind will be covered in 2024," he said.
Dzulkefly said the Health Ministry has received 50,000 doses of the vaccine in January.
These vaccines will be administered to female students from the 2021 cohorts who have yet to receive their vaccines.
The National Cancer Society of Malaysia previously projected that some 500,000 teenage girls could have missed their HPV vaccines from 2020 to 2022.
This was attributed to closure of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic and the diversion of funds to Covid programmes.
In 2018, the World Health Organisation made a global call for action to eliminate cervical cancer. To achieve this, all countries must reach and maintain an incidence rate of below four per 100,000 women.
By 2030, each country must fully vaccinate 90% of girls below 15 years old, screen 70% of women using a high-performance test by the age of 35, and again by 45 and treat 90% of women with pre-cancer and invasive cancer.
