Against cervical and penile cancer
When people think of vaccines these days, it’s admittedly – and understandably – got to do with COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be aware of other vaccines dealing with other important aspects of our health.
One of these has to do with the human papillomavirus or HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that could – through persistent infection over time – lead to cervical cancer in women, penile cancer in men as well as anal cancer in both genders.
The vaccines for HPV aren’t a new thing. Three of these – Cervarix, Gardasil and Gardasil 9 – are already available in Singapore. In fact, if you are a parent of a teenage daughter, you would be aware of Cervarix being offered to Secondary 1 and 2 female students for free under the National School-based HPV programme.
