a little less than one in ten middle school students received the first injection

The government had set itself the objective of vaccinating 30% of 5th grade students against the papillomavirus this year.

Of the 632,000 fifth grade students in public secondary schools, only 61,400 have been vaccinated against the papillomavirus since the start of the school year, France Inter revealed on Tuesday December 12. Fewer than one in ten middle school students have received the first of the two necessary injections.

For the moment, these are the first piecemeal reports from regional health agencies. However, with less than 10% of students in fifth grade vaccinated, we are far from the objective set by the government, which was 30%. This fall, the government launched a vaccination campaign in 7,000 colleges to protect students against the papillomavirus.

These figures do not include adolescents who were vaccinated by their local doctor. The Ministry of Health even hopes that the vaccination campaign within colleges will result in an increase in injections in the city.

Papillomaviruses responsible for 6,400 new cases of cancer each year in France

The campaign against papillomavirus began in all public colleges in France in October, with fifth grade students. The 180,000 fifth grade students in private colleges could not be reached by this vaccination campaign, and for good reason, Catholic education did not want to participate in it.

Human papillomaviruses, sexually transmitted viruses, are responsible for 6,400 new cases of cancer each year. The vaccine protects against nine types of human papillomavirus, notably responsible for 90% of cervical cancers, 80% of anal cancers and 90% of anogenital warts.

In France, vaccination against HPV has been recommended for girls aged 11 to 14 since 2007, and for boys of the same age since 2021. It requires two doses: a first during the first trimester, the second will take place from April to June 2024.