TORONTO - The Ontario government may have to educate parents and girls about a free vaccine in light of numbers showing half of the eligible Grade 8 girls in Ontario are not taking advantage of a vaccination which "saves lives'' by preventing cervical cancer, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday.
Ontario Ministry of Health numbers show 40,000 girls have consented to the first of three vaccines against human papilloma virus (HPV) since they were unveiled with much fanfare last summer.
That's only 53 per cent of the 76,000 girls who are eligible for the free vaccine through their school board.
Halton, York, Durham and Toronto all had thousands of girls who declined the vaccine while in the northern Ontario community of Timiskaming, almost half the eligible girls refused to be vaccinated.
"I think it's kind of early days yet,'' McGuinty said after a stop at a hospital in Barrie, Ont.
"If there is some need for us to better advertise this and bring it to the attention of families, so they understand that it's in keeping with the best advice that we received and it's talking about protecting the health of our young women, then I'm sure we're going to want to revisit that.''
Ontario is spending $117 million over three years to offer the vaccine Gardasil which, if the $400 shots are administered before a girl becomes sexually active, is effective against the strains of HPV responsible for 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario introduced vaccination programs after the federal government set aside $300 million in funding. Every year about 550 women in Ontario are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 150 succumb to the disease, McGuinty said.
But since the vaccine is made available though local school boards, some Catholic boards expressed concern that the vaccine might encourage sexual activity outside of marriage. At least one -- the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board -- debated whether to prevent distribution of the vaccine.
The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement on the vaccine last fall, saying it was up to parents to decide whether their girls should be vaccinated.
The bishops also said further medical research is required because "there is no consensus among those involved in public health in Canada that HPV vaccination is the most prudent strategy'' to prevent cervical cancer.
Some medical researchers have also questioned how long the immunity lasts and have expressed concern that the vaccine may cause women to forego safe sex practices and regular pap smear exams which have helped cut cervical cancer rates over the years.
"Our responsibility is to make it available,'' McGuinty said. "We put that program in place because it was in keeping with the very best advice we received from medical experts.''
While some doctors lamented the relatively low participation rate, Health Minister George Smitherman said he's not disappointed.
The ministry did a widespread education campaign in 23 languages when the vaccination program first started, Smitherman said.
The province will look at whether it can do more to boost the number of girls getting the vaccine, he said.
"We've got to keep plugging away to try and get those numbers up,'' said Smitherman, adding Ontario will look at what other jurisdictions are doing to encourage vaccination.
Guylaine Lefebvre, president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, said she's hopeful all eligible girls will take the vaccine and put doctors like her out of business.
Health officials, teachers, and doctors need to step up the education campaign about the benefits of the HPV vaccine, she said.
"We are privileged enough in this country that our government is offering it for free,'' she said. "I can't think of a reason not to take this vaccine.''
Conservative Elizabeth Witmer said getting vaccinated is a personal choice which is best left up to individuals and not the government.
"Some of the provinces are not even making this available,'' she said. "People have made decisions and we need to respect the decisions that they've made.''
But New Democrat France Gelinas said the Liberals botched the vaccination program from the beginning by bowing to pressure from the pharmaceutical industry rather than working with public health departments.
"They rolled that out way too quickly,'' she said. "They didn't give the health units a chance to do their work on the ground, to prepare their communities. There were ways to do this way more successfully.''
