The second phase of the controversial campaign to vaccinate teenage girls against cervical cancer has been postponed to next year, the national health institute RIVM announced on Thursday.

The campaign, which started in March, was due to continue in September. The RIVM said the vaccination programme has been put back because the health service will be too busy with the expected outbreak of swine flu this autumn.
In April the RIVM admitted that its efforts to get teenage girls to take part in the vaccination campaign had flailed. The average turnout was just 49%, compared with a target of 70%.