Girls at a school in Gillingham are set to be the first in Medway to take part in a life-saving vaccination programme.

As many as 2,500 pupils aged 12 and 13 are soon to be immunised against two types of the human papilloma virus (HPV) that cause almost 75 per cent of cases of cervical cancer.

The first school in Medway to take part in the scheme will be New Brompton College, Gillingham, on December 11.

The plan is to vaccinate girls who enter Year 8 between now and 2012. Older girls will be offered a catch-up programme.

Community paediatric clinical nurse Sue Whiting said schools across the Towns had fully backed the scheme. She said: “The schools have embraced the vaccination and we have not faced any opposition. They have taken on board the public health element of these vaccinations. We want to work with parents and their daughters.”

There had been some concern that parents were ill informed about the vaccinations.

Parent and councillor Cathy Sutton (Lib Dem) had criticised efforts to provide information about the vaccinations as “vague.”

She discovered the lack of information when her daughter was unable to tell her when, or if, she would be immunised. So she tabled a question at a meeting of the children and adult’s overview and scrutiny committee on Thursday.

Anne Finlayson, NHS Medway’s assistant director of children’s and specialist services, said letters would be sent out to all girls eligible to make sure no young woman missed out on the chance of vaccination.

She also defended the decision to administer the drug through the school system. She said: “The reason for giving the vaccination in schools is there is good evidence to show there is more chance of a better uptake.”

The HPV vaccination, funded by the government, is made up of three injections given over six months and administered by the school nurse.

NHS Medway has paid for two nurses and an administrator.

The Cervarix vaccine is 99 per cent effective against the two types of HPV. The HPV vaccine does not protect against all forms of the virus and does not replace cervical screening.

n For more information, call 0845 602 3303 or visit www. immunisation.nhs.uk/vaccines/HPV