Now offer this cancer jab to all our children

Congratulations to David Rose for his excellent article last week on head and neck cancer and the Government’s refusal to offer the HPV vaccine to boys.

As a head and neck cancer nurse and a mother to a boy and girl, I was already disgusted with the refusal to give both sexes the jab.

At the time my daughter received her vaccination at school, I made enquiries as to why her brother, who is 18 months younger, could not receive the same protection. When neither the school nor the local GP would agree to vaccinate him, I tried the local chemists, who provide flu and holiday jabs. I was told by both Boots and Superdrug that the vaccine was not licensed for males.

After reading the Mail on Sunday article and seeing that other countries vaccinate boys, I went online and found Superdrug will offer the vaccine for £150 a shot.

Surely this is sexual discrimination to offer girls the vaccination free but charge the boys? And I see from internet forums that many mums don’t want to vaccinate their girls. Surely offering boys this protection could be funded from the girls’ lack of uptake?

I have nursed head and neck patients for decades. My patients lost their voices, the ability to swallow, were disfigured, and the radiotherapy destroyed their salivary glands, leaving them with permanently dry mouths and a loss of sense of taste. It is a disease you would not wish on your worst enemies. I intend to write to my MP to urge him to raise this issue at Prime Minister’s Questions. I would urge other readers to do the same. Brenda Clarke, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire

As a sufferer of throat cancer caused by the HPV virus, I would like to endorse the Mail on Sunday article. This is a serious medical problem and action needs to be taken immediately to vaccinate boys, raise awareness of this cancer, and educate parents to have their children vaccinated.

The bureaucrats at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have their heads in the sand and should not be prevaricating over such a life and death matter. Mark Price, Knutsford, Cheshire

The NHS’s reasoning – that it is cheaper to treat the tumours later in life than roll out a vaccination programme for boys – is very short-sighted. I hope that they reconsider this decision. Name and address supplied

The spread of the HPV virus would be greatly reduced if people had less unprotected sex. We need to educate ourselves more on this. I’ve heard girls say that they don’t use condoms because they’re on the pill, which does not safeguard them from sexually transmitted diseases. Both women and men need to be more responsible to prevent the spread of HPV. V. de Bheal, London