SameDayDoctor offers the HPV jab to boys and girls to reduce the incidence of cervical and other cancers transmitted by the Human Papilloma Virus. Girls are now routinely vaccinated on the NHS but boys are not.
SameDayDoctor offers the HPV jab to boys and girls to reduce the incidence of cervical and other cancers transmitted by the Human Papilloma Virus. Girls are now routinely vaccinated on the NHS but boys are not. A report on the BBC website is reprinted below:
"Doctors and health professionals are regularly paying hundreds of pounds for their teenage sons to receive a vaccination against cancer that girls already receive for free on the NHS, the Victoria Derbyshire programme has been told. Is boys' health being put at risk?
"Had the HPV vaccine been available when I was a boy, I believe I would not have developed throat cancer more than 30 years later," said Jamie Rae, 53.
"I'm basing this on the overwhelming majority of research I have seen over the years and countless experts I have spoken to.
"That's why I'm desperate for boys to be able to receive it."
HPV is the name given to a large group of viruses. It is very common and can be caught through any kind of sexual contact with another person who already has it.
Doctors say 90% of HPV infections go away by themselves - but sometimes infections can lead to a variety of serious problems.
For boys, this includes cancer of the anus, penis, mouth and throat.
Since 2008, girls aged 12 to 18 across the UK have been offered HPV vaccinations as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme.
It is currently not offered to boys of the same age, but it can be done privately, costing several hundred pounds."
