The National Immunisation Program is extremely important in order to significantly reduce the burden of cervical cancer and other HPV-related cancers in Australia. In 2020, the World Health Organization released a strategy to eliminate cervical cancer globally. HPV vaccination is a very important part of the strategy. Excitingly, Australia is predicted to be one of the first countries in the world to achieve cervical cancer elimination.
Everyone can play their part in eliminating cervical cancer. You can do your part by supporting all students to consider and receive the HPV vaccine.
The program provides the vaccine free in schools for those aged around 12–13 years.
The
secondary school year the vaccine is given in varies between States and
Territories – refer to our table to see how it's being rolled out in your area.
As most teens receive the HPV vaccine at school, schools play a vital role in informing students, their parents and teachers about the vaccine, and positively influencing its uptake in Australia.
Nationally, only around four in five children are currently taking advantage of the free school-based vaccine program. Also, for a range of reasons, some students who have the first dose of the vaccine are not completing the course. Current national and state HPV immunisation coverage rates can be found here.
Research has shown this may be due to:
- low awareness of HPV and the vaccine among students and their parents, leading to consent forms not being returned
- logistical issues associated with returning consent forms
- students not being at school on vaccination day
- vaccination day experience (fear of needles)
- smaller school size
- type of school (e.g. specialist schools)
- geographical remoteness
- socioeconomic disadvantage.
This section contains advice about how to best run vaccination programs in a school setting. Please feel free to use the suggested tools to raise awareness of HPV and the vaccine among your students and their parents.