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The Government is said to be on the point of announcing a programme of mass-vaccination of 11-year-old girls against a sexually-transmitted virus linked to cervical cancers.
"It is expected, in the very near future, that a universal programme for 11-year-old girls will be announced," says vaccine expert Dr
Nikki Turner in a report for Auckland University's Immunisation Advisory Centre, of which she is director.
"The 11-year-old event is likely to be delivered by general practice and public health services within schools." Dr Turner is close to the Ministry of Health - her centre is contracted to it and she sits on the ministry's pandemic influenza committee - but she is not a ministry employee.
"We're just waiting to hear [about the vaccine]," she told the Herald.
The previous president of the Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Dr Kenneth Clark, said an announcement was widely expected soon.
"The proposals and the introduction of the vaccine are most welcome. Inevitably we would have preferred that it happened earlier."
Each year, cervical cancer is diagnosed in about 180 women and kills around 60.
Health Minister David Cunliffe was unavailable to comment and his spokeswoman said she was unable to confirm when an announcement would be made regarding human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination.
The ministry is negotiating with GlaxoSmithKline and CSL, which each supply a vaccine that targets strains of HPV associated with 70 per cent of cervical cancers.
Patients who wish to have CSL's Gardasil vaccine pay around $450 to receive the course of three injections.
The ministry had set a high priority on funding of HPV vaccination from next February, but it is understood the aim may now be to start making it available as early as September.
It has previously recommended vaccinating girls from the age of 11 or 13, with a catch-up for older girls up to 15, but the starting age was to be based on "acceptability" and a survey of parental attitudes was planned.
The vaccine is expected to confer the greatest protection if it is given before girls become sexually active as there is a high risk of HPV infection in the first years after starting to have sex.
Dr Turner said parental concerns had been expressed that giving the vaccine to adolescents might promote promiscuity or earlier sexual activity but there was no evidence for this.
"There is some evidence that education interventions can improve the level of acceptability in undecided parents. A UK study ... reported that 81 per cent of parents would probably, or definitely, have their child vaccinated."