350,000 girls of 12 will be offered vaccine to fight sex disease

Girls aged 12 and 13 are to be offered jabs against cervical cancer in a £100million school vaccination programme.

Ministers have given the go-ahead to the scheme to protect the youngsters against the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus.

The virus can trigger cervical cancer in later life. Around 1,000 women a year die of the disease and experts believe the jab will save around 700 of them.

But it has to be given before puberty to be most effective, leading to concerns from some quarters that it will encourage girls into underage sex.

The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended that girls aged 12 and 13 should be offered injections of the vaccine Gardasil.

Health Minister Caroline Flint said the Government had accepted the advice "in principle" – subject to an independent analysis of the benefits compared to the costs.

Like all vaccination programmes, the scheme will be voluntary and parents would be able to refuse permission for their daughter to have the jab. Full Story