Dr. Darina O'Flanagan:

I want to address some of the concepts Ms Jacqueline Hogan raised. She stated that many women will be exposed and infected but just 1% will get the disease. She seemed to jump from that to the idea that we should not vaccinate everybody.

The difficulty, of course, is that we do not know which 1% will get the disease. The only way to protect people from a serious and fatal illness is to ensure that we vaccinate everyone. This occurs for many vaccine-preventable diseases. We have universal vaccination programmes not because these diseases kill everyone but because they kill some. This is the only way in which we can prevent these fatalities from occurring.

The other comment I wish to make pertains to Ms Paula Byrne's concern about the information and literature provided in Ireland and the statement that the vaccine prevents cervical cancer. Similar literature that is provided in many other countries. For example, I have to hand the vaccination statement of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, which is handed out to parents in the United States. It states precisely the same thing - that is, that the vaccine can prevent most cases of cervical cancer in females. It is known that the vaccine prevents the precursors of cancer and that this is the way to prevent cancer. This is well accepted internationally, including by all major health organisations such as the CDC and the WHO. Consequently, I do not consider our information to be in any way unusual or different from information supplied by other health organisations.