The Health Service Executive has urged parents to have their daughters vaccinated with the free human papilloma virus (HPV) jab to prevent cervical cancer later in life.

In a statement, the HSE said the HPV vaccine is "safe" and is "a real life saver".

Head of the HSE National Immunisation Office Dr Brenda Corcoran said that in 2016 more than 90 Irish women will die from cervical cancer and a further 280 will need intensive treatment, such as surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, to help them overcome invasive cervical cancer.

"Of these 280 women, around 112 (4 in 10) will die from their disease within five years.

"Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of death due to cancer in women aged 25 to 39 years.

"HPV also causes pre-cancerous cervical conditions and a further 6,500 Irish women will need hospital treatment to remove these growths."

The HPV vaccine was introduced for all girls in first year of second level school in 2010/11.

"Since the programme started the vaccine uptake has always been above the target of 80%", Dr Corcoran said.

However, figures for 2015/16 indicate a drop off of about 5,000 girls not being vaccinated possibly due to concerns about the vaccine's safety.

Dr Corcoran said the concerns are "unsubstantiated" and "have no scientific basis."

She said the "HPV vaccine safety has been monitored for more than ten years by many international bodies including the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization.

"A number of syndromes and symptoms have been reported from small groups of families of girls across the globe.

"The symptoms reported can be very serious and consequential for those girls. The symptoms can often be hard to medically define.

"However, very careful and detailed analysis of reports of these conditions by independent national and international agencies analysing the millions of people who have been vaccinated to date has found that there is no difference in the rates of these illnesses between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

"While there is no question that these illnesses are real and devastating for those affected, there is no medical or scientific evidence to support assertions of a link between these illnesses which arise in the whole population and the administration of the HPV or any other vaccine."



The HSE said there are cases of high grade precancerous changes of the cervix being reduced by 75% in Australia and by more than 50% in Denmark and Scotland.



More than 100 million people have been vaccinated with HPV vaccines worldwide and in Ireland more than 220,000 girls have been given the injection.