Green Party leader welcomes the next phase of the Laura Brennan HPV Vaccination Catch-Up Programme

Leader of the Green Party Deputy Roderic O’Gorman, Chair of the Oireachtas All-Party Group on Cancer, said:

“The news that the HPV vaccine scheme is to be extended to fifth- and sixth-year students is a very welcome one. I’m thinking particularly today of Laura Brennan and her family, and everyone who has lost someone cancers caused by HPV.

I want to thank the Irish Cancer Society for their campaigning on this issue. If we continue to grow this programme, we can actually eradicate HPV from Irish society.

Over the last year I have raised the renewal of the Laura Brennan programme with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste & Minister for Health. And while today’s announcement is a positive step forward, the vaccine catch-up programme still needs to be extended to young adults who missed the vaccine in school.

Right now, a 25-year-old could still end up paying five or six hundred euro to get vaccinated against potentially fatal diseases caused by HPV.

I’ll continue to push the Minister to include these young adults in the catch-up scheme”.