The Department of Disease Control (DDC) and NHSO will provide the first shot of HPV vaccination to girls for free in July, backed by a Bt150 million budget, he said.

Department director-general Dr Amnuay Gajeena said that the Prathom 5 girls were the most suitable group as the sub-committee on immunization and the World Health Organisation recommendation that girls aged 11-12 should be vaccinated so they are protected from exposure to the virus. He said the vaccine would be given in two dosages, six months apart.

The HPV vaccine – which was also included in the national essential drug list – would protect against the two high-risk HPV types (types 16 and 18), which caused 70 per cent of cervical cancer in women.

The DDC has given the HVP vaccine to Prathom 5 schoolgirls in Ayutthaya province since 2014 on a pilot basis and no serious side-effects were reported.

Cervical cancer has killed up to 5,000 Thai women a year, while there are 10,000 fresh cases reported each year. The HPV vaccination was implemented to lower the fatality rate, alongside a widely-used cervical screening test, to detect potentially pre-cancerous and cancerous processes in the cervix.