There have been huge advances in both the prevention and treatment of cancer, in its many forms, yet it remains one of the most feared diseases.

So when a vaccine is made available which can help protect against a particular form, it would be reasonable to assume that the take-up would be high.

However, figures show that nearly six out of ten girls aged 17-18 from Bradford and district who have been offered HPV jabs to prevent certain strains of cervical cancer have yet to get them.

Why so many teenagers have not yet had the jab is not immediately clear, although it could possibly be that they have less sense of their mortality at that age and believe the disease is something that only happens to elderly people.

In this they would be wrong, for cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer among women under the age of 35 with around 3,000 diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK, of whom 1,100 will die.

This part of the vaccination programme, however, is in its early days and there are hopes of an increase in take-up, especially as awareness of cervical cancer is particularly high following the untimely death from the disease of celebrity Jade Goody.

What is certain is that today’s young women have a chance to reduce the death toll from the disease by opting to have the jab.

And while this is rightly a personal choice, we hope every effort is made to ensure it is one they can and do make guided by the facts, not one resulting from a lack of knowledge or a misplaced sense of invulnerability.