The European Commission is recommending measures EU countries should adopt to increase the uptake of two vaccines that prevent viral infections that can cause cancer, it said on Wednesday.
\nThe two vaccines are against the human papillomaviruses (HPV) that can cause many cancers, including cervical cancer, and against hepatitis B (HBV), which can lead to liver cancer.
\nAs part of Europe\u2019s Beating Cancer Plan, the European Union wants member countries to reach HPV vaccination of 90% for girls by 2030 and significantly increase the rate for boys.
\n\u201cMany Member States are well below 50% HPV vaccination coverage for girls with limited data available for boys and young adults, and there is a significant lack of data on HBV vaccination rate,\u201d the Commission statement said, adding it was as low as 1% in some countries.
\nTo achieve this rate, the EU recommends countries provide free or fully reimbursable vaccination, set targets for boys and improve communication and access.
\nThe HPV vaccines authorised in the EU are made by GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L and Merck & Co MRK.N.
\n(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Commission is recommending measures for EU countries to increase the uptake of HPV and hepatitis B vaccines to prevent viral infections that can cause cancer. The EU wants member countries to reach 90% HPV vaccination coverage for girls by 2030 and increase the rate for boys. Some countries have vaccination rates as low as 1%. To achieve this, the EU recommends providing free or fully reimbursable vaccination, setting targets for boys, and improving communication and access. The authorized HPV vaccines in the EU are made by GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[695,3,379,201,210,730,18],"class_list":["post-2731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-cancer","tag-cyprus","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-health","tag-vaccines","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n