by Marcus Burger
Young people aged 18 to 26 received letters in January inviting them to receive the HPV vaccine. Children have been receiving the vaccine since 2010, but now the government has announced that it is catching up with the generation that has so far missed the vaccine. Schiedammers can now get that shot at the vaccination post of the GGD at Rotterdam The Hague Airport.
It human papillomavirus as HPV is called in full, is relatively unknown for the amount of infections. About eighty percent of the population will contract it once or more. That doesn’t necessarily have to cause problems. Only some of the carriers have a dangerous type; types sixteen and eighteen. Those types can lead to six different types of cancer, of which cervical cancer is the most common. As a result, it was long thought that this problem only arose in women. Rosanne Verwijs, doctor of the GGD, emphasizes the opposite. “Men can also get cancer from HPV. Each year, 400 men and 1100 women get cancer from HPV.”
Sexually transmitted virus with cancer as a result
Although young people can recall many STIs through their information sessions at school, HPV is unknown to them. The virus has many similar characteristics in the cause, according to GGD doctor Rosanne. People can become infected with it: “the virus can spread through sexual contact, but also through oral sex and contact via the hand or mouth.”
Verwijs continues with a series of cancers that the virus can develop in some of the victims: “Cervical cancer is common, but also cancer of the throat and mouth and cancer of the penis, anus and vagina.”
Vaccination rate
GGD project leader Debby Russel also bears the responsibility to give the name recognition to the virus that is necessary for a high vaccination rate. In the large hall of the vaccination site, she acknowledges the problem. “Young people don’t know what it is.” That was already clear on the street. Addressed Schiedammers who fell within the target group had often never heard of it. “I don’t know what it is,” was alternated with “I think it’s a virus.”
The action plan to provide young people with information is multiple. “We also have information activities that we will deploy precisely in those areas,” Russel refers to Schiedam, where the vaccination rate is historically lower than in other cities. The GGD focuses its information on markets, schools and stations in order to generate awareness and motivate young people to get a vaccination.
No injection location in Schiedam
For the time being, there is no place in Schiedam where residents can go for an HPV vaccine. It has been tried to realize in the weeks leading up to the first injections. Nevertheless, according to Russel, it is still being examined whether a location in the city is necessary and possible: “There is still no injection location in Schiedam. We have eight locations in Rotterdam-Rijnmond. We will investigate whether it is necessary to expand that.”