Money is more important than health

I meant to write about the withdrawal of the HPV vaccination when I heard mention of it on TV3 yesterday, or the day before. But I forgot about it. Luckily Ginger Pixel reminded me, and alerted me to an interesting idea. A Ray Darcy show listener suggested that people send emails with photos of their daughters directly to the person responsible. Who is, of course, the wonderful Mary Harney. There is a form on the Today fm site or you can email the minister at minister’s_office@health.irlgov.ie

A women’s welfare group is criticising the Government’s plans to abandon the HPV vaccination programme. The Dublin Well Woman Centre says the move is both short-sighted and dangerous. The HPV vaccine is given to young girls to target the virus that causes cervical cancer. Health Minister Mary Harney announced yesterday that the plan was being rolled back because of budget constraints. CEO of the Well Woman Centre Alison Begas said that it was an illogical move that will cost even more in the long-term

Only last June the Health Information and Quality Authority said that girls should be vaccinated, and told

Health Minister Mary Harney that such a vaccination programme would also be cost-effective, weighing up the cost of administrating the vaccine versus its effectiveness in preventing cervical cancer and in terms of savings made in the cost of treating women who without the vaccine might get cervical cancer

But sure never mind that, lets just follow the usual government deal of knee-jerk reactionary measures that’ll turn out worse in the long-run.

Other blog entries:
• GingerPixel
• Neil Ward
• Red Mum
• Fergal Reid
• Alexia Golez
• Damian
• The Cedar Lounge
• The Biopsy Report
• Grannymar