More than a million teenage boys could miss out on cancer-preventing HPV vaccines, charity warns

‘The cost of about £150 per dose is unaffordable for many’

More than a million teenage boys could miss out on the HPV vaccine, which is being offered to 11 to 13 year olds from September onwards (PA)

A “missing generation” of more than a million teenage boys will not get potentially life-saving vaccinations, a charity has warned.

Boys aged 11 to 13 will be given the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine free of charge across the UK for the first time from September. Girls of the same age have received the vaccine since 2008.

But this leaves more than a million teenage boys in the school years above them unable to get the vaccine on the NHS, placing them at risk of HPV-related cancers, the Teenage Cancer Trust has warned.

“The vaccine should be made available for free on the NHS to all men and boys up to the age of 25 who want it, as it is for women and girls,” Kate Collins, the chief executive of the charity, said.

“While it’s great some boys from this year onwards will have the same protection against HPV-related cancers that teenage girls and women have had for a decade, a generation of teenage boys and young men are being denied that chance.

“Parents of school-age boys may well find one child will get the HPV vaccine for free, whereas an older son will only be protected if they can afford to pay for it. That simply isn’t fair, and the cost of about £150 per dose is unaffordable for many.”

Surveys conducted by the charity suggested three in four males aged 13 to 24 would want to be vaccinated if it was available for free.

But when forced to pay for the jab, 46 per cent said they would remain unvaccinated, potentially leaving millions at risk from HPV-related cancers.

The charity said that when the HPV vaccination programme for girls was rolled out by the NHS, girls in older school years could have it for free through a catch-up programme, but this was not being extended to a generation of boys.

The World Health Organisation estimates the HPV virus causes about 5 per cent of all cancers.

While HPV has been chiefly associated with cervical cancer in women, it has known links to a range of cancers. It is a cause of oral cancers, which have risen by 30 per cent since the early 1990s, with two-thirds of cases in men, according to Cancer Research UK.

Gay and bisexual men are particularly at risk from a range of HPV-related cancers. Research suggests men who have sex with men are 15 times more likely than heterosexual men to develop anal cancer, which HPV causes in 90 per cent of cases.

Ms Collins’ argued that the decision to deny older teenage boys the vaccine was based on a “false presumption” about their sexual partners.

“Not vaccinating older teenage boys puts them at risk as it relies on the false presumption they will only have sexual partners who don’t have HPV,” Ms Collins said.​

“It undermines the UK’s progress on reducing HPV-linked cancers, such as cervical cancer, as this ‘missing generation’ of boys can get and share HPV with others who’ve not been vaccinated.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “From this year, we are making the HPV vaccine available to all boys in year 8. Extending the vaccine to boys aged over 13 would only have a limited benefit as older boys and young men are already protected by herd immunity – built up by 10 years of the girls’ successful vaccination programme.

“Our vaccine programme has led to a significant fall in HPV infections in young women, which will help to prevent cancers in both men and women in years to come.”

LGBT+ campaigners have long been arguing for men to receive the HPV jab, and in June 2018 the government began slowly rolling out free vaccinations for gay and bisexual men on the NHS.

The Teenage Cancer Trust is also concerned about low awareness of HPV, particularly in boys, and its known links to a range of cancers.

It found that almost one in three teenagers and young adults said they have not heard of the virus.

Of those teenagers and young adults who thought the HPV vaccinations protected people from infections that can cause cancer, half believed it is only effective for girls and women, the charity added.

Campaigners warned that failing to extend the HPV vaccination programme to all 13- to 24-year-old boys and men “contradicted the NHS’s own message that universal vaccines are for the common good”.

Additional reporting by PA