HPV vaccination drive extended for three days

Rawalpindi: During the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign, the teams of District Health Authority (DHA) has achieved 77.71 per cent coverage rate by protecting over 307,421 young girls against the virus from September 15 to September 27, though the campaign has been extended for three days and would now be concluded tomorrow (Wednesday).

The campaign, which was planned from September 15 to September 27, had an aim of immunizing a total of 395,609 girls aged 9 to 14 years against cervical cancer in the district, however 22.3 per cent of the target is yet to be vaccinated against the virus.

Data collected by ‘The News’ revealed that the greatest challenges the HPV vaccination campaign faced were parental refusals and unavailability of girls. “The campaign’s success was driven by a robust dual strategy, leveraging both community outreach programs and in-school vaccination drives. Community-based efforts proved most effective, accounting for over 72 percent of all vaccinations,” states the DHA. Data also revealed that as many as 84703 girls were vaccinated against the virus by reaching girls in schools and madrassahs while as many as 222782 girls were immunized against cervical cancer through community outreach drives.

The DHA achieved 91.6 per cent of the target in Tehsil Kotli Sattian, the highest coverage rate during the campaign so far while the lowest coverage was recorded in Kallar Syedan with 58.6 per cent. The coverage rates have been recorded as 76.7 per cent in Gujar Khan, 83.1 per cent in Rawalpindi Cantt, 83.5 per cent in Rawalpindi City, 80.9 per cent in Murree, 81 per cent in Kahuta, 68.9 per cent in Rawalpindi Rural and 78.9 per cent in Taxila. The program also demonstrated an excellent safety profile, with only two minor adverse events reported among the hundreds of thousands of doses administered.