Doctors call for boys to get HPV vaccine

Wednesday, 26 March 2008

The vaccine against the cancer-causing human papilloma virus (HPV) should be given to boys as well as girls, doctors have said.

Medics endorsed a call for the government to extend the jab to boys at the British Medical Association's (BMA) annual conference. Under government plans all 12- and 13-year-old girls are to be offered the vaccine from September.

Dr Chris Spencer-Jones, chair of the BMA's UK Public Health Committee, said: "The vaccine works on boys as well as girls as they can get the virus and carry it. If they are not immunised they can pass it on to their girlfriends."

But the Department of Health has rejected the idea. "We are not offering the vaccine to boys. Protecting boys was discussed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which did not consider it to be cost-effective in preventing cervical cancer," said a department spokesman.

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