Most of the vaccinations against the human papillomavirus (HPV) in Otago next year are expected to be of year 8 and 9 pupils.
About 113 schools are being approached by the vaccination programme organisers to see if they are interested in having vaccinations on site, but there will also be an opportunity for girls to be vaccinated through their family doctors.
The Ministry of Health will provide a one-off support payment to participating schools.
This will comprise $200 a school or $300 a school if it has year 8 classes and a per pupil payment of about $2 (yet to be confirmed) for every eligible girl pupil in years 8 and above, up to the age of 18.
To receive this payment, the schools must confirm their participation by the end of February at the latest.
Project leader for the Otago programme Jo-Anne Skinner of Well Dunedin, said it was too early to say how many schools would be participating.
The programme was trying to ensure that schools made decisions based on correct information.
"There will be some who are not comfortable with it and we will respect their decisions."
Asked if the payment to schools might be seen as an inducement to schools to persuade girls to have the vaccinations, Mrs Skinner said that should not be an issue.
It was important that the correct information was given out and that decisions were informed.
It was a matter of individual choice.
She was trying to minimise the work schools would have to do.
Well Dunedin, in conjunction with Public Health South, would hold education events for caregivers, parents and pupils to learn more about the vaccination.
It was envisaged that the first of the vaccinations of girls at participating schools would be held towards the end of first term next year.
The Ministries of Health and Education had advised principals it was up to school boards to decide whether information from school rolls should be provided for the programme.
The information would include the pupil's full name, date of birth, ethnicity, contact address, phone number and school room number.
The privacy commissioner advised this information could be disclosed for immunisation purposes, provided boards first notified parents and caregivers that they intended to do so.
If boards decided to withhold the roll information, the district health boards and public health nurses could request the school boards themselves disseminated information about the HPV programme to parents and pupils on behalf of the district health board, the ministries said.
Asked what would happen to lists of roll information after they had been used by the programme, Mrs Skinner said they would be destroyed.
It would not be relevant or appropriate to keep them in the longer term.
The vaccine, delivered in three doses over six months, was designed to protect against HPV infection which could cause genital warts and lead to the development of cervical cancer later in life.
The Government-funded programme, which was available in phased introduction form to all girls born on or after January 1 1990, was expected to cost $177 million over five years.
It became available for 17 and 18-year-old women in September, with vaccinations offered in the community, but Mrs Skinner said only about 25% of those eligible nationally in this group had begun the vaccinations.
The media campaign for the programme was expected to intensify in the new year.
Parents or caregivers who wanted their eligible daughters to have the vaccine earlier than the phased introduction because the girls were likely to become sexually active earlier were able to access the vaccine through their family doctor.
