IMO president says “fake news” behind fall in HPV immunisations

Dr Ann Hogan, the new president of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) says that "fake news" is causing a drop in vaccination rates. 

Addressing the medical organisation's AGM in Galway, Dr Hogan told conference attendees that the fall in HPV immunisation rates among young girls is partly due to social media campaigns that make false claims about risks from vaccinations. Dr Hogan also said that such campaigns are putting young women at risk of cervical cancer and other illnesses. The new president called for an urgent increase in resources to tackle the ever-increasing number of problems across Irish health services:

"The health services isn’t suffering from a temporary illness. It is suffering from a long term, persistent and severely debilitating illness caused by under-resourcing over decades and like any patient with chronic illness, the outlook is very difficult. Our problems today are an inevitable consequence of severe under-funding of health services through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s."

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