Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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1020. To ask the Minister for Health the rationale for not including the HPV vaccine on the drug payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21865/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The immunisation programme in Ireland is based on the advice of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC). The Committee's recommendations are based on the prevalence of the relevant disease in Ireland and international best practice in relation to immunisation. It makes recommendations on vaccination policy to my Department. The NIAC continues to revise recommendations to allow for the introduction of new vaccines in Ireland and to keep abreast of changes in the patterns of disease. Therefore, the immunisation schedule will continue to be amended over time.

In 2009, the NIAC recommended HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination for all 12 to 13 year old girls to reduce their risk of developing cervical cancer when they are adults. In September 2010, the HPV vaccination programme was introduced for all girls in first year of secondary school.

The NIAC recommended that the HPV vaccine should also be given to boys. On foot of the NIAC’s recommendation, my Department asked the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to undertake a health technology assessment (HTA) to establish the clinical and cost-effectiveness of extending the current immunisation programme to include boys in the first year of secondary school.

The HIQA completed the HTA in December 2018, recommending that the HPV immunisation programme be extended to include boys. A policy decision was made to extend the HPV immunisation programme to include boys, starting in September 2019, with the introduction of a 9-valent HPV vaccine.

The ages at which vaccines are recommended in the immunisation schedule are chosen by the NIAC in order to give each child the best possible protection against vaccine preventable diseases. As the HPV vaccine is preventative it is intended to be administered, if possible, before a person becomes sexually active, that is, before a person is first exposed to HPV infection.

Therefore, the gender-neutral HPV vaccination programme targets all girls and boys in first year of secondary school to provide maximum coverage. All vaccines administered through the School Immunisation Programme are provided free of charge.

My Department will continue to be guided by NIAC's recommendations on any emerging evidence on this issue in the future.

Anyone not in 1st year of secondary school or age equivalent in special schools or home schooled during the 2020/2021 school year who wishes to get the HPV vaccine, must go to their GP or sexual health clinic and pay privately for the vaccine and its administration.

It is important to note that the schools-based immunisation programme for the 2019/2020 academic year has been completed and the uptake rates for the HPV vaccine in that academic year are 82% for the first dose of the vaccine and 77% for the second dose.

This is the highest uptake for the HPV vaccination programme since 2015/2016 and is particularly encouraging because it was the first year that boys were included in the programme and it shows that the provision of vaccine in community clinics did not adversely affect the uptake.

The programme for the academic year 2020/2021 was paused during the first few months of 2021 due to school closures and redeployment of staff to the Covid-19 immunisation programme.

The inputting of uptake information for the schools-based programme has also been delayed due to redeployment of administrative staff. However, Community Healthcare Organisations have reported that the vast majority of second level schools had their first dose of HPV vaccine delivered between October and December 2020.

The uptake rate for the first dose of the HPV vaccine in the 2020/2021 academic year, as at 15 April, is 63% and this figure is expected to increase because data input on vaccine uptake is ongoing.

Plans are now being developed by the HSE for the recommencement of the schools-based vaccination programmes, including the second dose of the HPV vaccine. Some areas have already recommenced these programmes or are in the process of arranging school visits.