Call to extend HPV vaccine to boys as cancer rates soar

NHS urged to act after new figures reveal rising head and neck tumours in men

Health officials will come under increasing pressure to extend vaccination against the cancer-causing human papilloma virus to young men. Doctors say new figures, to be released in a few weeks, will show that rates of head and neck cancers in men are now rising so quickly that it is imperative the policy is reversed.

At present, in Britain, only young women are offered the HPV vaccine, which protects them against cervical cancer. Boys are not given the vaccine, even though the virus is known to cause cancers of the head and neck in men in later life. Health officials have argued that administering the vaccine to boys is not cost-effective.

Related: Australia could become first country to eradicate cervical cancer

Continue reading... March 31, 2018 at 04:27PM