Teen Pregnancy Hits Cervical Cancer Jab

Teenage pregnancy is stopping girls in Devon from fully protecting themselves against cervical cancer.

There are three HPV injections - which are free to girls up to the age of 18 - but Maria Garrett from NHS Devon says if a girl's pregnant or breastfeeding they can't continue the course - but they don't want them to lose out: "if it then goes beyond a year, someone is preganant or breastfeeding and their course is incomplete then our message is, come back to us, we will complete your course for you, after you've stopped breast feeding"

But there have been some unforseen positives as well with the vaccine actually helping to prevent unplanned teenage pregnancies here.

Maria says it is because they have to ask about health issues: "I certainly know of many cases in the team where we've found girls who've had unprotected sex and are certainly still within the time period where they could still recieve emergency contraception"

You can find out more about the vaccination here