Manningham-leader
20 Mar 11 @ 07:00am by Anna Prytz
SCHOOL nurses in Manningham are urging parents to protect their daughters against cervical cancer after statistics revealed a quarter of teenage girls are missing out on potentially life-saving vaccinations.
Gardasil is free to all 12 and 13-year-old girls under the national HPV vaccination program.
But a 2010 survey by the Cancer Council showed two out of three teen girls were not aware human papillomavirus (HPV) caused cervical cancer.
East Doncaster Secondary College nurse Rose Howarth said parents were choosing not to immunise because of a lack of education.
“The feedback we get is that parents think their daughters are too young to be confronted by the issue of cervical cancer and that given they’re not sexually active, there’s no point yet,” she said.
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