The plan to eradicate cervical cancer in England is under threat due to a decline in children receiving the HPV vaccine in schools.
Officials say parents' reluctance to have their children vaccinated since the pandemic has caused a 17 percentage point fall in the number of pupils having the human papillomavirus (HPV) jab.
For girls aged 12 to 13, vaccination rates fell from 90 per cent before 2020 to 73 per cent last year.
For boys, it fell from 82 per cent to 68 per cent, according to The Sunday Times.
Schools blame the lowered rates on parents increasingly declining or not returning consent forms.
