Private HPV jabs run out amid vaccine apartheid row

PRIVATE supplies of a vaccine that protects against the virus responsible for many forms of cancer have run out across Britain, it emerged last week.

It follows this newspaper’s campaign to persuade the NHS to provide the jab free for boys.

The Gardasil 9 vaccine, free only to girls aged 12 to 13, gets its name because it provides lifelong protection against nine strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV), spread by kissing and sexual contact.

The NHS is facing legal action on grounds that the current ‘vaccine apartheid’ policy amounts to gender discrimination. Our campaign has raised awareness of HPV but also highlighted a second form of discrimination – between those able to afford to vaccinate their sons privately, and those who can’t.

Boots and Superdrug offer vaccination for boys. For those aged up to 14 this costs £310, rising to £450 for older males – compared to the £30 to £40 per patient that experts say vaccinating all boys in school would cost the NHS. But both chains have run out, with supplies not in until July.