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Call for boys to get HPV jab
September 19, 2013
A vaccination available to teenage girls should also be given to boys, according to two health bodies.
Boys should be given the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination currently only available to girls, medical bodies have said.
HPV is connected with several cancers, but at present the vaccine against it is given to girls to protect against cervical cancer, a restriction the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV want to see changed.
HPV infections are spread by sexual contact and can include anal and oral cancers as well as those affecting the genitalia.
FPH head professor John Ashton said common sexual practices would justify vaccinating males.
"We really need to discuss oral sex as part of sex education in schools and to look closely at extending the vaccine to all men," he said.
The Department of Health has said it has no plans to give HPV vaccinations to boys, but children of private healthcare customers may be able to seek it.
HPV jabs were made available to all 12 and 13-year old girls in Britain in 2008, while the NHS Cervical Screening Programme was set up in 1988.
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