The government has confirmed that it will introduce a nationwide HPV vaccination programme for men who have sex with men.
A vaccination programme began in 2008 among school-age girls in the UK to tackle the human papilloma virus, which spreads through genital or oral contact and can cause a number of cancers.
Only girls are vaccinated on the grounds that men who only have sex with women are also protected from transmission through ‘herd immunity’.
However, the initial ‘herd immunity’ plan left gay men vulnerable. As unvaccinated men have sex with other unvaccinated men, they are effectively left without any protection – leaving HPV to spread through the gay community.
Campaigners have long called for change to protect gay and bisexual men – and after a pilot programme, it was announced this week that NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) will roll out a vaccination programme from via sexual health (GUM) clinics and HIV clinics in England.
The programme will start from April 2018.
Public Health England said that the earlier “vaccination pilot was a success”, and that “a phased nationwide rollout to protect men who have sex with men from some cancers caused by HPV as well as genital warts, will now go ahead”.
Given the phased approach to the rollout, patients should not contact their clinics to request the vaccine.
If the vaccine is available patients will be offered it as part of their routine sexual health check-up.
Dr Michael Edelstein, Consultant Epidemiologist at PHE, said: “Our evidence shows that men who have sex with men are welcoming an HPV vaccination programme, and it can be delivered successfully through sexual health services.
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