CLASS Eight students will be immunised against Human Papillomavirus from July next year.
This will make Fiji the first country in the world to introduce three new vaccines — the pneumococcal vaccine, the rotavirus vaccine and the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine simultaneously.
HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases.
Australian High Commission official Suzy Wilson said the new vaccine that would be in place next year would limit the transmission of Human Papillomavirus between partners.
Ms Wilson said cervical cancer was the largest killer of women in Fiji and the Ministry of Health together with the Australian government hoped that the introduction of HPV vaccine would limit the transmission of this virus between partners.
"The credit must all go to the Ministry of Health in their forward looking and very consultative way of moving forward.
"This is a brave step for the ministry to introduce HPV virus to these children," said Ms Wilson.
Fiji Health Sector Support Program's technical facilitator — infant and child care, Kylie Jenkins said they would begin targeting primary schools in 2013. "This is a very safe and effective vaccine, millions and millions of dozes have been given globally," she said.
Ms Jenkins, who will also increase public awareness about this vaccine in the coming months, said children and parents needed to understand fully the HPV virus vaccine.
She said consent forms would be distributed for parents to sign if they agreed for their daughters to be vaccinated.
"Generally, women who are a bit older suffer from cervical cancer. The best thing to do is protect girls before they risk developing it," she said.