A vaccine to prevent cervical cancer is now available in the island.

The drug Cervix has been made available through pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, which officially launched the product Tuesday at the Hilton Kingston Hotel in New Kingston.

The drug has been on the market for three years in countries such as the United Kingdom and United States, but was only made available on the Jamaican market two months ago.

It is effective against the most common subtypes of the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, experts say, including the HPV 45, which is the commonest subtype found in women in Jamaica and one of the deadliest. It's nearly 100 per cent effective. Cervical cancer is second only to breast cancer as the cancer that accounts for most deaths in women in Jamaica.

The drug is expensive though, costing as much as $7,500. The ministry has no plans at this time to subsidise the cost, as cervical cancer is not yet covered by the National Health Fund.

It has to be taken in three doses, says consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Sharmaine Mitchell. The second dose is taken one month after the first, and the third, five months later. The vaccination is administered only as early as ages 10-14 years old.

Reduced distress

She said, however, that it was a far cry from what would be spent on treatment of cervical cancer and it reduced the physical and emotional distress associated with the disease.

"It's one thing to treat but (there are) subsequent problems that they are faced with in terms of damage to the cervix. Some patients who don't do their Pap smear early enough or who do their Pap smear early enough but we have failed to pick it up during regular screening and they have cancer of the cervix, you have to take their uteruses out," Mitchell said.

While the drug is effective in fighting the commonest and most aggressive forms of HPV, Mitchell said women should still have Pap smears done regularly. Women are encouraged to undergo a Pap smear every six months.

Other subtypes

"There are other subtypes, though the contribution is not very significant, but they can cause cervical cancer and so we would still have to screen. Vaccination and screening would still continue," she said.

HPV manager in Latin America and the Caribbean for GlaxoSmithKline, Dr Felipe Lorenzato, advises all women to do the same.

"There would still be like 20 per cent or more (HPV subtypes)] out there and they would need to be covered by screening," he said.

A full-scale islandwide vaccination programme is not on the immunisation schedule at this time as more cost-benefit analyses need to be done, but Mitchell expects that the programme to vaccinate both girls and boys will eventually be put on the schedule. Males are carriers of HPV.

Lorenzato said any programme put in place must involve churches, schools and families.

"In order to get the best coverage of girls 10-14, you have to go into schools, but before you go there you must talk to parents and to teachers so that they realise the importance of this vaccination, the importance of making it better than what nature can do," he said.