Brook calls for the inclusion of adolescent boys in the national HPV vaccination programme

Published: 18 July 2018

Brook calls on the Department of Health and Social Care to include adolescent boys in the national HPV vaccination programme without delay.

We welcome the Joint Council for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommendation on extending the national HPV immunisation programme to boys.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is best known as the most common cause of cervical cancer. HPV also causes vulval and vaginal cancers in women; penile cancer in men; anal, head and neck cancers, genital warts and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) in both men and women.

The JCVI statement on HPV vaccination recognises that vaccinating boys will prevent HPV related cancers in unvaccinated women as well as men, and will help to provide optimal protection to men who have sex with men (MSM) who currently get no protection from the girls vaccination programme.

Brook is a member of HPV Action and supports its call for:

• An immediate announcement by the Department of Health and Social Care that 12/13 year old boys will be included in the HPV vaccination programme. The same decision must also be made at the same time by the governments in Scotland and Wales.
• The early publication of an implementation plan for a national rollout throughout the UK at the earliest possible opportunity (September 2019 at the latest).
• A catch-up programme for boys which parallels that available for girls. This would mean that any boy in school years 8, 9, 10 and 11 can be vaccinated.
• The production of information materials targeted at boys, their parents and teachers.
• A national campaign aimed to maximise vaccine uptake in both sexes with the aim of eliminating current variations in uptake between local authority areas.

Last month Brook Champions ran an online Have Your Say campaign to raise awareness of the impact of HPV on men. Leah wrote this blog about not getting the vaccine, and the importance of universal HPV vaccination.

Participants in our Brook Champions’ online survey did not know that boys could be vaccinated against HPV (58%), had not been taught anything about HPV at school (85%), did not know about the range of cancers caused by HPV (80%). 95% of participants thought boys should be included in the national HPV vaccination programme.

Contact

Lisa Hallgarten, Brook, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, lisa.hallgarten@brook.org.uk tel. 07766704367

For media enquiries please contact Brook's press office on 07789 682831 or email press@brook.org.uk

Notes to editors

Brook believes that young people should have access to great sexual health services and wellbeing support.

Brook provides free and confidential sexual health information, contraception, pregnancy testing, advice and counselling, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and education programmes, reaching nearly 235,000 young people nationwide every year.
 
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