The Forum has welcomed the news that the HPV vaccine will be available to boys from September 2019.
From next term, boys in school year 8 will be offered the free Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine for the first time. Girls have been vaccinated against HPV since 2008.
Worldwide, about 5% of all cancers are linked to the HPV virus. The government say that modelling by the University of Warwick estimates that by 2058 in the UK the HPV vaccine currently being used may have prevented up to 64,138 HPV-related cervical cancers and 49,649 other HPV-related cancers including cervical, penile, anal and genital cancers and some cancers of the head and neck.
The first dose of the HPV vaccine will be offered to boys and girls aged 12 and 13 in year 8. The second dose can be given anytime between 6 to 24 months after. Two doses are needed to be fully protected. The vaccine currently used in the NHS vaccination programme is called Gardasil.
Congratulations to former Forum CEO Peter Baker, who now leads HPV Action, for all his work in this area.