The Irish Cancer Society (ICS) has launched a new campaign aimed at educating members of the Oireachtas about the national HPV vaccination programme.

Around 280 women in Ireland will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and some 90 will die from the disease in 2016. HPV (human papillomavirus ) is the main cause of this type of cancer.

There are many types of HPV, most of which are harmless. However some strains can be serious, such as those that cause cervical cancer.

A national HPV vaccination programme has been in place since 2010 and as part of this, all girls attending first year in secondary school are offered the vaccine free of charge.

The ICS said that it has become ‘concerned that misinformation about the vaccine is being circulated'.

"The ICS is launching an advocacy campaign to support politicians so that they can have the full facts to hand when targeted by anti-vaccine campaigners, and can offer an informed response to any queries from constituents.

"The society is so concerned that much of the information being circulated about the vaccine is incorrect, our advocacy staff will be running a political-education campaign for the rest of the year. We cannot allow unsubstantiated claims to drown out the real facts on safety and inappropriately influence parents' decisions to have their children vaccinated," commented Donal Buggy of the ICS.

The society insisted that the combination of a HPV vaccination programme, along with cervical screening, has the potential to ‘all but eliminate cervical cancer'.

It noted that countries which started HPV vaccination programmes some time ago have recorded dramatic falls in their HPV infection rates and this has led to a major reduction in the number of pre-cancerous conditions being diagnosed.

"The vaccine is safe and protects girls and women from developing fatal cancers associated with HPV. The World Health Organization's Global Advisory Committee for Vaccine Safety (GACVS) has reviewed, and continues to monitor, the evidence on the safety of the Gardasil vaccine.

"It concluded in December 2015 that Gardasil continues to have an excellent safety profile. In November 2015 the European Medicines Agency (EMA) conducted a similar review. This comprehensive review found no evidence the vaccine was linked to chronic fatigue-like conditions," Mr Buggy said.

The society added that public representatives have a ‘key role' in ensuring that parents are fully informed about decisions that will affect the future health of their children.

However, responding to this, a support group that was set up by the parents of teenagers who believe that their daughters have developed serious health problems as a result of the vaccine, said that it is ‘concerned to see the ICS actively campaigning for the HPV vaccine without asking the HSE to ensure that parents are being supplied with the full information on potential side-effects'.

The REGRET support group stated that the full list of possible side-effects of the vaccine, as listed on the manufacturer's patient information leaflet, are not provided by the HSE in the school packs sent home prior to vaccination.

"The principal of informed consent is something that is especially important to all in our support group. We would like to know what the ICS position is on the HSE policy of witholding safety information and denying parents their right to informed consent," the group said.