WILLEMSTAD - The Ministry of Health, Environment and Nature (GMN) wants to start this school year with the introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. All girls and boys between nine and ten years old will soon be able to get an injection.
The ministry explains in a video that the vaccine will protect against an infection of HPV. There are many different types of HPV, but types 16 and 18 are particularly dangerous. In the long term, the virus can cause cancer in the cervix, mouth and pharynx. HPV can also cause nasty warts.
In the video, nurse Mariela Whitfield explains that four in five people will become infected with some type of virus at some point in their lives. The nurse emphasizes that one infection can already lead to cervical cancer. On Curaçao, an average of ten women a year develop cervical cancer and five to six people die from the disease every year, says Whitfield.
According to the nurse, it is important to start vaccinating at a young age because the vaccine works best in children who have not yet reached puberty. In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) says the vaccine is most effective when people have not yet had the virus.
Parents of children between the ages of nine and ten will soon receive an information letter about when their child can get the vaccination. The letter contains a questionnaire that the parent must complete and which gives permission to vaccinate the child.