Boys in the UK are to be given the HPV vaccine from September in a bid to prevent cervical and other cancers.
Currently, only girls receive the vaccine, which also protects against penile, anal and genital cancers, as well as some cancers of the head and neck. But from the beginning of the next school year, boys aged 12 and 13 will be given the vaccine with parental consent.
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The vaccine gives protection against the human papilloma virus, which causes 99 per cent of cervical cancers.
鈥淥ffering the vaccine to boys will not only protect them but will also prevent more cases of HPV-related cancers in girls and reduce the overall burden of these cancers in both men and women in the future,鈥� says Mary Ramsay, of Public Health England.
Girls have been offered the vaccine in school since 2008. PHE say the programme has led to an 86 per cent fall in infections of some strains of HPV among people aged 16 to 21.
A study in Scotland has suggested that the vaccine has reduced pre-cancerous cervical disease in women by up to 71 per cent.
鈥淭his decision is a triumph for gender equality and cancer prevention,鈥� says Beate Kampmann, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pleasing to see the UK follow the example of other countries like Australia, where the vaccine has been implemented for girls since 2007 and for boys since 2013.鈥�
