A lawmaker has called on the Health Ministry to urgently resume the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for 13-year-olds in schools after a pandemic-related halt meant more than 560,000 girls missed their shots.

The HPV vaccination is to curb cervical cancer, the third most common cancer among women in Malaysia, affecting 1,740 women and killing 991 of them a year.

“This worrying statistic has to be...