A new row has broken out over the government’s programme of mass vaccination of schoolgirls against cervical cancer after a mother claimed her daughter received the jab without either of them consenting to it.

Debbie Jones has filed an official complaint against health professionals who she claims took the 13-year-old aside at school and administered the injection.

About 300,000 girls are receiving the Cervarix vaccine in schools this autumn to protect them against the human papilloma virus, a sexually transmitted infection that causes most cases of cervical cancer. Some parents and religious groups are unhappy, fearing it could encourage promiscuity, and one Catholic school has opted out.

Jones, a Christian, says her daughter, who has diabetes, agreed with her that she should not have the injection at Stromness academy, Orkney, because she was too young and could also suffer an adverse reaction because of existing health problems.

Orkney NHS Trust said yesterday it was launching an “urgent investigation”.

Jones said: “We all discussed it at length as a family. I just didn’t feel comfortable with it. I told my daughter that if she really wanted it, she could have it, but she agreed with me. I couldn’t believe it when she came home and said they’d given it to her anyway.”

The cervical cancer programme is a UK-wide initiative and the case will be keenly watched in England. Campaigners said they had had similar reports from other parents.

Disputes over parental consent for children’s medical treatment have raged for years. A test case in 1983 established that children can be given treatment without parental permission. Victoria Gillick, a mother of 10, had brought the case to stop doctors prescribing contraception to under-16s without parents’ knowledge.

Although the health department expects girls to discuss the vaccine with their parents, those who want it can receive it even if their parents are opposed.

A spokesman said it was up to the professional administering the jab to be satisfied consent had been dealt with.

Jones claims her daughter was not even asked: “She didn’t say yes or no because she was never directly asked. They talked to her, then just gave it to her.”

Jackie Fletcher, a campaigner with Jabs, a child immunisation campaign, said: “We have had first-hand accounts from parents going to the doctors to discuss vaccines and the children being taken by the clinic nurse and vaccinated without consent.”

An Orkney NHS Trust spokeswoman confirmed it had received the complaint, adding: “We take this complaint extremely seriously and will be investigating fully as a matter of urgency. If there are lessons to be learnt they will be incorporated into the vaccination programme in Orkney.”

Life saver

Anti-cervical cancer jabs are being offered to every 12 and 13-year-old girl in a programme that ministers believe could save 400 lives a year. Over the next two years, a “catch-up” programme for 14 to 18-year-olds will take place in schools.

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