Teenage boys could be given HPV jabs to prevent cancer

TEENAGE boys could be offered the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine alongside girls, under government proposals to prevent a generation of young men from developing cancer.

Public Health England is considering plans to extend the vaccination programme to boys, after international studies showed that by 2020 the number of men contracting cancer from the HPV infection will outstrip the number of women.

Delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers annual conference in Liverpool were warned there was an “urgent need” for schools to educate boys as well as girls about how to reduce the risks of contracting HPV. Yesterday, the UK’s biggest pharmacy launched a national campaign aimed at encouraging teenage boys to come into stores for an HPV vaccination. Boots announced it will stock the vaccine in stores across the country, but parents will have to pay £300 for their sons to have the vaccine if they are aged 12 to 14, rising to £450 if they are 15 or over.

The World Health Organisation rec- ommends that HPV is vaccinated against in all countries that can afford to do so. Men are vaccinated against HPV in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Since 2008, all girls aged 12 and 13 have been offered a vaccination programme. At the time, experts considered the evidence for offering jabs to boys but decided that high coverage in girls would provide enough “herd protection” for boys.

In updated advice, the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation said that since the programme was introduced, increasing evidence has emerged that the HPV vaccine is likely to protect against a wider range of cancers than first thought, including anal, penile and head and neck cancers.