The Human Papilloma Virus vaccine, which protects girls and women from cervical cancer, will no longer be just for 13-year-old girls.

Based on the high interest, the Institute of Public Health has decided that the opportunity to be vaccinated will be given to older girls as well.

“In parallel with the girls who are 13 years old, we are also starting a vaccination campaign that started yesterday, for all girls between 14 and 20 years old”, says Rovena Daja, coordinator of the vaccination program at the IPH.

Now the new instruction along with the vaccine doses have been distributed to all health centers in the country. It will be the vaccinators of each center who will notify the girls about the presentation.

“Each vaccinator is looking in its registers of all the girls aged 14-20 who will be called in an organized manner throughout the year 2024. Vaccination will begin gradually, it will start with those who are 14, then with 15, 16 and so on, the distribution of vaccines has started since yesterday throughout the country”, says Daja.

Preliminary data from the Institute of Public Health speak of mass application of this vaccine to 13-year-old girls.

Referring to data from other countries, experts expect that in the next 10 years, Albania will see a decrease in cervical cancer cases.

“Many countries have been using it for over 10 years, where they have seen a significant reduction in cases, so we recommend making this vaccine that it is compulsory for 13-year-old girls”, says the doctor.

The application of the vaccine against the Human Papilloma Virus in Albania has started since November 2022. It is already one of the mandatory vaccines in the vaccination calendar for Albania.