Teenagers injured or disabled by cervical cancer vaccines are stepping up efforts to permanently end the government's subsidy program for injections of Cervarix and Gardasil.
On Friday, eight teens, accompanied by their parents, called out health minister Norihisa Tamura over the issue. The schoolgirls, aged from 14 to 18 — including four in wheelchairs — and their parents are members of the Nationwide Liaison Association of Cervical Cancer Vaccine Victims and Parents.
Tamura was handed five petitions in a meeting with the group at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, association chief Mika Matsufuji said afterward. The request to abolish the vaccination program topped the list.