Cervical cancer jabs and Birmingham schools

I commented some months back on the wonderful breakthrough of the HPV jab giving Britain's girls the opportunity to enjoy a life with minimal risk of cervical cancer.

And indeed there is a marvellous opportunity to ensure total coverage by administering the injection in schools. I can't understand, therefore, why Birmingham has decided on a sort of half and half approach to this. Half the city is going to administer the injection at school and the other half have decided it's the GP's responsibility. It would seem that the problem lies, not with the schools, but whether you are lucky enough to live in an area of Primary Care Trust responsibility which has decided to sponsor school visits

This seems ridiculous. Surely the only way to ensure that all the girls who qualify for the injection receive it is through a common policy, namely via visits to the schools. What is happening seems a recipe for a mess. Schools are going to have to check that girls have not been injected at a GP's surgery, and GP's practices are going to have to waste time ensuring that the girls have not been injected at school.

The worst part, of course, is that the PCTs who choose to leave it to the GP are also risking that some girls will not get the jab at all.

Surely there is a Department of Health issue here which should ensure a common policy across the board.