Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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433. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of young girls and boys who received a dose of the HPV vaccine in 2020 and to date in 2021. [49018/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The schools-based immunisation programme for the 2019/2020 academic year was completed with uptake rates for the HPV vaccine in that academic year recorded at 82% for the first dose of the vaccine and 77% for the second dose.

The programme for the academic year 2020/2021 was paused during the first few months of 2021 due to school closures and redeployment of staff to the COVID-19 immunisation programme.

The inputting of uptake information for the schools-based programme was also delayed due to redeployment of administrative staff. However, Community Healthcare Organisations have reported that the vast majority of second level schools had their first dose of HPV vaccine delivered between October and December 2020.

The current recorded uptake rate for the HPV vaccine, in the 2020/2021 academic year, is 73% for the first dose. As some areas are yet to input some or all of their data for both doses, and catch-up clinics are still ongoing, figures are expected to increase.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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434. To ask the Minister for Health when schools will once again be running HPV vaccine drives as opposed to venues away from the school campus. [49019/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The HPV vaccination programme is a schools-based immunisation programme. The roll-out of the programme is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive.

As this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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435. To ask the Minister for Health if the decision to run a HPV vaccination clinic in a school is a Government policy or individual school policy. [49020/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The HPV vaccination programme is a schools-based immunisation programme. The roll-out of the programme is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive

The programme for the academic year 2020/2021 was paused during the first few months of 2021 due to school closures and redeployment of staff to the COVID-19 immunisation programme.

The inputting of uptake information for the schools-based programme was also delayed due to redeployment of administrative staff. However, Community Healthcare Organisations (CHOs) have reported that the vast majority of second level schools had their first dose of HPV vaccine delivered between October and December 2020.

All CHO areas have plans to recommence their schools programme for 2021/2022 which will see continued roll-out of the HPV vaccine to the target cohort.

In addition, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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436. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of schools that ran a HPV vaccination clinic in 2019, by county in tabular form. [49021/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Health Service Executive collects and collates immunisation statistics, I have asked them to reply directly to the Deputy.