For the first time, HPV vaccination will be available on the NHS to boys aged 12 and 13 (school year 8) in a bid to make HPV-related cancers ‘a thing of the past’.
Vaccination of boys was recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) last year and is predicted to prevent more than 100,000 cancers over the next 40 years, including 64,138 HPV-related cervical cancers and almost 50,000 other HPV-related cancers, including anal, penile and oropharyngeal cancers.
Head of Immunisation at Public Health England, Dr Mary Ramsay, said: ‘This universal programme offers us the opportunity to make HPV-related diseases a thing of the past and build on the success of the girls’ programme.
‘Offering the vaccine to boys will not only protect them but will also prevent more cases of HPV-related cancers in girls and reduce the overall burden of these cancers in both men and women in the future.’
The programme will be delivered in schools. The first of two doses will be offered to boys (and girls) aged 12-13, with the second dose anytime between 6-24 months later. Two doses are needed to confer full protection. Adolescents who have their first vaccination after the age of 15 will need to have three doses. Children who miss their vaccinations at school can be offered them in general practice.
There will be no catch up programme for boys currently aged 13-18 although the vaccine is available privately in pharmacies and travel vaccine centres.
Dr Ramsay added: ‘It’s important not to delay vaccination, as the vaccine may be less effective as adolescents get older.’
RCGP chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: ‘There is very strong evidence that shows the HPV vaccine can protect people from a virus that can trigger a wide range of cancers that affect both men and women, so it is vital that as many eligible boys and girls as possible get inoculated.
‘We are pleased that the HPV vaccine will be given to year-8 boys, as well as girls, from September – this is something the RCGP has long-called for. The potential of this vaccine to save lives and prevent the complications of cancer is huge, and since it has been available on the NHS for girls, it has had excellent take-up, with impressive results – it’s important this success is replicated with boys.’
A meta-analysis in The Lancet has demonstrated substantial herd immunity in countries achieving high vaccination coverage, with reductions in HPV infections, pre-cancerous cervical lesions (CIN2+) and anogenital wart diagnoses. The impact is greatest in countries that offer HPV vaccination to multiple age cohorts of girls (from 9-14) and that have ‘gender neutral’ vaccination policies.
