Young girls in Pembrokeshire, and throughout Wales, will be offered an additional routine vaccine to protect their health.
The Welsh Assembly Government has announced the vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes 70 per cent of cervical cancers, will be added to the routine immunisation programme from September.
Information regarding this campaign has already been circulated via letters given to all eligible girls to convey to their parents.
Locally, Year 8 girls will be offered the vaccine in school based sessions delivered and coordinated by school health nurses. A two-year catch-up campaign for girls up to the age of 18 is also planned to start in the following year in autumn 2009.
School health nurse team leader Anne Farr said: "Our role is to promote and protect the current and future health of children in Pembrokeshire and vaccination programmes such as this, play a significant part in that. Parents and schools have all been informed of the planned vaccination dates, commencing from the beginning of October."
It is estimated that HPV vaccinations, which involve a course of three injections over a period of approximately six months, have the potential to save the lives of around 400 women each year in the UK. Parents are being reassured there have been 13 million doses of HPV given to women worldwide and studies have shown the vaccine to be safe and well-tolerated.
For more information, visit http://www.immunisation.nhs.uk/hpv">www.immunisation.nhs.uk/hpv or contact the school health nurse attached to your school, you can also contact the school health service on 01437 773850.