Province not yet funding cancer drug

It's been months since Gardasil was approved for sale in Canada yet not one province has added it to their standard immunization regime. I don't think the moral debate in Canada about Gardasil will be nearly as intense as in the States. The biggest barrier will be the cost as government health care budgets. The dollars are flowing to other areas right now. There is a lot of lip service to health prevention and health promotion amongst various agencies, but when push comes to shove and money is involved, these things tend to get ignored, which is so unfortunate. If I had a daughter, niece, or sister in the target age group, I wouldn't wait and would pay for their immunization as who knows if/when the government will cover it.

From the Edmonton Journal:
The Alberta government won’t be funding a vaccination for young girls that prevents cervical cancer by protecting them against a sexually transmitted virus until it hears from another national committee later this year.

This week, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said all girls and women aged nine to 26 should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus or HPV. A vaccine like Gardasil — approved by Health Canada last summer — protects girls and women from being infected with four strains of HPV. The vaccination actually prevents cancer since two of those HPV strains cause about 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases. ...more