"From the start of the next school year, for all 5th graders, we will generalize vaccination," said the Head of State during a meeting with students in a college in Jarnac (Charente).
"It helps prevent a lot of cancers. Many countries have done it."
It will not be compulsory and parental consent will be required, said the Elysée.
Asked about not making this vaccine compulsory, the head of state said he preferred "a work of conviction".
But "the question will arise as to whether at some point it will be made compulsory", he added.
These announcements come four days before World Human Papillomavirus Disease Awareness Day.
Extremely frequent, these infections are most of the time benign, but they can persist and lead to cancer: HPVs are responsible for 2,900 cancers of the cervix causing more than 1,000 deaths per year, 1,500 cancers of the ENT sphere, 1,500 cancers of the anus, 200 cancers of the vulva or vagina and a hundred cancers of the penis.
The virus that causes cervical cancer © / AFP/Archives
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these cancers can be completely eliminated through screening and vaccination.
At the end of 2021, 45.8% of 15-year-old girls had received a dose of vaccine, and only 6% of boys of the same age, while the ten-year cancer control strategy 2021-2030 aims for a target of 80% here seven years.
"No obligation"
“The fact that this vaccine is politically supported is very good news,” Jean-Luc Prétet, director of the national reference center for papillomaviruses, told AFP.
"However, there is no obligation, which could slightly reduce the impact of these announcements".
Vaccination is now recommended for girls and boys between the ages of 11 and 14.
It can also be offered as a catch-up until the age of 19 and remains possible until the age of 26 for men who have sex with men.
Macron traveling to a college in Jarnac, Charente, alongside the Minister of Health François Braun, February 28, 2023 © STEPHANE MAHE / POOL/AFP
A school experiment conducted in the Grand Est for two years showed good results among young people in 5th grade: the vaccination rate rose from 9% to 27% the first year and from 14% to 31% the second.
In Australia, where vaccination takes place at school, the rate of people infected with HPV fell from 22.7% in 2005-2007 to 1.5% in 2015 among young women aged 18-24.
And forecasts count on the eradication of cervical cancer within 15 years.
bur-pab-sde-ito/sp
© 2023 AFP