The government of Panama approved the free distribution of the HPV vaccine to all 10-year-old girls, but in Colombia, a bill that would introduce the vaccine into the public health care system of Bogotá has just failed for the third time.

Last October, Panama announced the historic decision, the first county in Latin America to approve a free distribution of the HPV vaccine. The vaccination campaign has already begun with the Cervarix vaccine, produced by the Belgian company Glaxosmithkline.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, 33,000 women die each year as a result of cervical cancer, a disease caused by the Human Papilloma Virus. HPV infects 20% of women and men in this region, and up to 30% of young women 15-24 years old. This data was revealed in a comprehensive report on the impact of the virus in the Americas, researched by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Sabin Vaccine Institute, among other relevant health organizations.

To achieve such massive vaccination, Panama is investing USD 5.6 million, according to EFE. The vaccine’s cost has been the major obstacle faced by the local bills of Bogotá. Three local bills have been submitted to the Concejo (the legislative body of Bogotá). The most recent bill proposed the free or low cost distribution of the vaccine by the public health care system to girls from 9 to 26 years old. However, the Secretaría Distrital de Salud (the local executive body in charge of health care), declared that this vaccine will not part of the Plan Obligatorio de Salud (Mandatory Health Package).

In Bogotá, cervical cancer has become the second cause of deaths by cancer, after breast cancer, for aged 30 to 59.

The 2005 National Population and Health Survey (ENDS), the most rigorous research available in sexual and reproductive health, showed that the cervical cancer death rate in Colombia had increased from 54% in 1995 to 69% in 2000, among women aged 40 to 69. The survey was conducted by Profamilia, a private, non-profit health provider. It also revealed that among 20 to 49 year old women this rate had increased from 34% to 37% in the same period.

Martha Velandia, the Coordinator of the Plan Ampliado de Inmunización (Enhanced Plan to Immunize of Bogotá) stated that “the ideal scenario would be the free distribution of all vaccines, but that is not possible because we have limited funds.”

On average, Colombia includes a new vaccine in this Plan every two years. Currently there are other vaccines in the waiting list, starting with the one against influenza. The three shots of the vaccine against the HPV could represent 1,050,000 pesos (USD 500) per woman, added Velandia.

Early this year, the government health agency INVIMA authorized the Gardasil vaccine.

It is ironic that in Colombia the vaccine is still out of the public health system while behind the vaccine there is a Colombian scientist. In fact, Nubia Muñoz Calero, physician and pathologist, is member of the committee of scientists in charge of supervising the Gardasil’s clinic tests, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine 2008.  Recall that Prof. Harold zur Hausen, a German virologist, received the award for his studies in the same field: the links between human papilloma virus and cervical cancer.