The government approved changes to the National Programme for primary prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Bulgaria 2012-2016, which provide for extension of the target group subject to immunization program by including 13 year old girls, informed the press office of the Council of ministers. A two-dose mode of conducting the immunization scheme is adopted, which corresponds to the changes in 2014 in the summary product characteristics of both vaccines used in the prevention of human papillomavirus oncogenic infections.

The new scheme will result in the release of financial resources within the approved budget of the Programme and will provide the parents, who missed the opportunity to immunize their daughters or parents, who changed their minds about the benefits of prophylactic immunization, the possibility of free immunization

The necessary resources to implement the Programme are at the expense of the approved budget of the Ministry of Health. The mechanism of financing the cost of vaccines and their administration by the National Health Insurance Fund through transfer of funds from the Ministry of Health is preserved.

With the adoption of the National Programme for primary prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Bulgaria 2012-2016, the country implement the recommendations of WHO to include vaccination against HPV in national strategies for the control of cervical cancer and became the 24th state in Europe to provide public funds for immunization against HPV, while retaining the recommendatory nature of the prophylactic immunization. The immunization coverage achieved with complete immunization schedule of three doses of prophylactic vaccine in relation to the number of girls targeted given in percentages is 24% for 2013 and 17.7% in the nine months of 2014.