The primary care trusts (PCTs) in Kent are reassuring parents and teenage girls about the safety of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, and urging them to participate in the cervical cancer vaccination programme.

The reassurance comes after the tragic death of a 14-year-old Coventry schoolgirl, Natalie Morton, died shortly after being administered a Cervarix jab at her school on Monday.

However, Natalie's inquest revealed that the actual cause of her sudden death was a pre-existing tumour, which was, in no way, related to the vaccination.

In reply to a question pertaining to fears about the HPV vaccine and affect on its high uptake in NHS West Kent after Natalie's death, Dr Declan O'Neill, West Kent's assistant director of public health, said: "Now that we have heard that this tragic incident was probably not related and that her death was likely to be due to other causes I guess there will be some who might think twice and other people for who it will reinforce that they want the jab. It is really for people to sum up the risks."

Statistically speaking, the uptake of the HPV jab - which protects against the sexually-transmitted virus causing 70 percent of all cervical cancer - has been the highest in West Kent, standing at 92.4 percent vis-à-vis the programme's countrywide average of 84.8 per cent.