German Launches Cancer Vaccine Campaign

Mar 28, 08:04 AM

Current Headlines: Teenage girls in Germany will be urged to get free cervical cancer vaccines under a new public health campaign.

Germany's Standing Commission for Vaccination recommended that the nation's 3 million girls between 12 and 17 be vaccinated against the Human papilloma virus, The Times of London Reported.

The HPV virus causes about 70 percent of cervical tumors. Germany has sold the vaccines since last year but the commission's approval means they will be covered by state insurance companies for teenage girls.

It not only prevents cancer, Dr. Lutz Gissman of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg told The Times, it also takes away the fear of many thousands of women waiting for the outcome of tests for the illness.