Doctors say they are concerned about a drop in the number of young people having a vaccine which protects against an infection that can develop into cervical cancer.
The HPV vaccine, which is offered to school pupils aged 12 and 13, helps stop the spread of Human papillomaviruses.
The vaccine programme, which started in 2008, has been hugely successful, with no cervical cancer cases detected in women who have been fully vaccinated.
However, Public Health Scotland said it was worried that uptake in Scotland’s most deprived communities was 20% lower than in the most affluent areas.
HPV is the name given to a large group of viruses which can be caught through sexual contact with another person who already has it.
Doctors say most HPV infections go away by themselves but sometimes infections can lead to a variety of serious problems.
In 2008, Scotland’s HPV vaccination programme started offering immunisation to girls in their first year of secondary school.
Since then, no cervical cancer cases have been detected in women who have been fully vaccinated and, in 2019, the programme was extended to boys.
They can develop cancer of the anus, penis, mouth and throat as a result of the infection and can also spread the infection to females.
Dr Claire Cameron, a consultant in health protection at PHS, said vaccine uptake in Scotland has been declining gradually over the past decade and “inequalities are increasing” since the Covid pandemic.
“That’s really concerning because this virus can affect everybody and we want everybody to be vaccinated so they can be protected,” she said.
The latest available data from PHS shows the average HPV vaccination coverage among S1 pupils last year was 71.5%, with girls more likely than boys to be vaccinated.
In the least deprived areas the vaccine rate at S1 rose to 82.1%.
But in the most deprived communities that figure slumped to just 59.9%.
Dr Cameron said there were a number of reasons why uptake was lower in some communities.
“We think it’s maybe something to do with vaccine confidence isn’t as high as it has been,” she said.
“Maybe people’s engagement with healthcare has changed, but also we offer this vaccine in schools and we know that there has been a change in how young people engage with education and there’s challenges there.”
Last year researchers from Edinburgh University’s Bioquarter set up workshops in local schools to teach pupils about the benefits of immunisation against human papillomavirus.
Dom Cairns-Gibson, who heads one of them at Castlebrae High School in Craigmillar, said vaccine uptake there was considerably lower than the average for the whole of NHS Lothian but in the first year of the programme uptake increased.
“The thing we have noticed is the increase in confidence,” he said.
“We’ve got an ongoing partnership with the school, so they know our scientists, it’s trusted people who are coming in and telling them this information.
“We noticed there was quite a lack of knowledge on HPV and a lot of people conflated it with HIV, so they just didn’t necessarily know what it was, why they needed to get it.”
Pupils at the school are encouraged to ask questions about vaccines and HPV.
They also discuss how vaccines can offer protection to a whole community as well as looking at the many different HPV viruses through the microscope.
JJ, who is in S2, had been worried about getting his vaccine but after taking part in the workshop decided to go ahead.
“I had worries about getting the jag because I don’t want to get it, but I had also don’t want to get the virus,” he said.
“It will help more because it shows you what happens if you don’t get it.”
Razan, who is 13, said: “I understand more about it and getting more information helps you not get scared.”
Ellie, 13, said: “If you don’t get it then you are more at risk, but not only are you more at risk of getting yourself ill but you are risk of getting other people ill who may not be able to get the vaccine because of medical issues.”
