BREAKING NEWS: Schoolgirl, 14, dies and three classmates taken ill after being given cervical cancer vaccine

A 14-year-old schoolgirl has died shortly after being given a cervical cancer vaccine.

The teenager was one of four classmates at a school in Coventry to have suffered serious side-effects after receiving a jab as part of a national immunisation programme.

She is though to have died this afternoon after being injected with Cervavix to protect against human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.

It is believed to be the first death linked to the jab since a nationwide vaccination programme began this month.

A spokesman for NHS Coventry said that three other girls at the same school - which has not been named - had complained of 'dizziness and nausea' after being given the injection.

It is not known whether any other girls had required hospitalisation or medical treatment.

The parents of the 14-year-old have been informed of her death and the families of children at the school are being contacted with further information about what happened.

The Cervarix vaccine has been given to all schoolgirls aged 12 and over since earlier this month as part of a national campaign. By 2011 all girls under 18 will have been offered the jab.

Britain is the only country in the world to have chosen Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, for a widespread vaccination programme instead of Gardasil, a rival vaccine made by Merck.

Figures released earlier this month showed that seven out of 10 girls aged 12 to 13 have had the vaccine to protect against cervical cancer.

Overall, 70 per cent of school girls in Year 8 in England had all three doses of the jab, data from The NHS Information Centre revealed.

But the figures suggest that 13 per cent of girls may have rejected the jab.

A UK-wide programme is currently running to vaccinate girls against HPV, which causes most cases of cervical cancer.

It is mostly transmitted through sexual contact so vaccination efforts currently target teenage girls before they become sexually active.

Experts hope the jab will revolutionise the approach to beating the disease, which kills more than 1,000 women in the UK each year. A complete course of the vaccine costs the NHS £242 per person.

But increased sexual activity among middle-aged women has led to calls for them to also be offered the cervical cancer jab.

Rising numbers of women who may never have contracted HPV are getting divorced and having sexual relationships, meaning they might also benefit from having the jab.

High Street pharmacy giant Boots earlier this month offered the cervical cancer jab to women aged 18 to 54 in stores across England and Wales.

Teenage girls are targeted through a national programme which does not include older women, even though trials show vaccination can also work for them.

The Boots service, costing £405 for three shots of Cervarix vaccine, aims to fill in the gap.

Around 3,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year.

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