Experts today said that millions of young men in Britain should receive the HPV vaccine after a landmark study found that the jabs have almost eliminated cervical cancer in women.
Major research last night revealed the injections — which NHS officials began giving to 12- to 13-year-old girls over a decade ago — have stopped hundreds from getting the disease.
King’s College London researchers found that cervical cancer rates dropped by 87 percent to five cases per annum among women who were vaccinated when they were children, and are now in their 20s.
The vaccine has been administered to boys aged 12-13 since September 2019 in England and Wales.
Despite offering millions of young women the jabs when they were first introduced, health chiefs have so far rejected a catch-up program.
Today, charities urged the Government to “think again” and “do the right thing”, calling on ministers for a U-turn to offer the vaccine to all young men up to 26 who have missed out on it.
They said that the current inoculation drive doesn’t go far enough and leaves boys ‘playing a lot with their future health.
HPV can cause cancer in men, and it can also be passed to women through sexual contact.
The HPV vaccine, called Gardasil and made by pharmaceutical giant Merck, protects against the human papillomavirus virus.
It provides the first proof the NHS vaccination programme — launched for teenage girls in 2008 — is saving lives. A new HPV vaccine, Gardasil — which offers an even higher level of protection — is now being used for the HPV programme in schools
The Lancet published research that showed cervical cancer rates in women who received the vaccine in years 8 and 9. The rates of cervical cancer in women who received the vaccine in years 10 and 11 were 62% lower than those who received it in years 12 or 13.
Five percent of all cancers worldwide are caused by the virus, including cervical, throat, and anal cancers as well as genital warts. Some strains can cause cancer, but not all.
Eight in 10 people will come into contact with the virus — which does not usually cause symptoms — and is transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person.
The HPV jab is currently offered to girls and boys aged between 12 and 13, before they become sexually active. A second dose may be administered up to two years later.
The jab was made available to girls starting in 2009. It included a catch up campaign for approximately 3.5million girls 18 years and older.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation – a panel that advises Government on inoculations – ruled that giving the jabs to girls would provide herd safety to boys.
It claimed that they would receive ‘little extra benefit’ to prevent cervical carcinoma, which was the main purpose of the programme.
After the JCVI discovered that the jab would protect against a wide range cancers, the JCVI began giving the jab to boys in 2019.
Health bosses stated that a catch up programme was not necessary as data suggests that older boys already benefit from the herd immunity developed over 10 years of girls being vaccinated.
For men between 18 and 45, who have sex with women, they can get a HPV vaccine at a sexual health clinic or HIV clinic.
MailOnline was told by Jamie Rae (founder of the Throat Cancer Foundation): ‘It’s imperative all boys & men up to 26 years old get priority access for a catch-up program to increase overall HPV protection.
“Daily, viruses cause havoc. HPV is just one of them.
“We applaud the UK Governments for finally introducing HPV vaccinations for boys. However, it doesn’t go far enough.
“It excluded swathes o young men and boys who were left playing a lottery for their future health. We call upon all UK governments to reconsider and do the right thing.
Malcolm Clark, Cancer Research UK’s policy manager for cancer prevention, said that the Government should also consider a catch up program for boys.
He said: ‘The HPV vaccine saves lives, and it’s important that the vaccine programme is gender neutral.
“HPV can also cause other types of cancer, such as anal and penile, as well cervical cancer.
MailOnline was informed by David Winterflood (acting chief executive of NOMAN’s HPV vaccination campaign), that HPV vaccines offer the ‘greatest chance to prevent cancer in decades’.
Data from the now defunct Public Health England shows 59 per cent of 12 to 13-year-olds in England were vaccinated with the HPV jab in the school year 2019/2020 (dark blue bars) — 28.8 per cent less than a year earlier. The pandemic affected school closures, which impacted the rollout. The coverage ranged from 24.2 percent in South Cumbria and Lancashire to 85.8 percent in Greater Manchester. In England, 54.4 percent of boys were vaccinated in the exact same year (lightblue bars). Coverage ranged from 25.2 to 32% in South Cumbria and Lancashire to 77.3 per cent in Greater Manchester.
He stated, “All genders must be vaccinated for this deadly virus.”
“A catch-up program for boys would only accelerate ending the suffering caused by HPV.”
Dr Jyotsna Vohra, director for policy, Royal Society for Public Health said that data from the cervical cancer study was’really promising’ and’shows how this vaccine could lead us toward the elimination of the disease’.
She stated, “It is now that we increase the vaccine programme capacity in schools and expand the HPV vaccine to boys.
“It is vital that we address existing disparities in vaccine intake across our communities.
“We must do more for girls and boys to get the vaccine. This will ensure that no one is left behind with life-saving vaccines.
MailOnline contacted the Department of Health to find out if it plans to offer a HPV catch up program to boys.
This comes after a Lancet study found that cervical cancer rates were 87% lower in women who received the vaccine between 12 and 13.
Among women now in their twenties — the first generation to get the jab — cases have now dropped from about 50 per year to just five.
This age group also saw a 97% drop in pre-cancerous cells, or cervical carcinomas.
Women who had the vaccine between 14-16 had lower rates of cervical carcinoma than women who had it 16-18.
Experts estimated that the first four years of the vaccination programme — between 2008 and 2012 — had led to around 450 fewer cases of cervical cancer and 17,200 fewer cases of cervical carcinomas.
Each year, around 3,200 cases are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Britain. This causes more than two deaths per day.
However, the study suggests that the HPV vaccination will essentially eliminate the disease in younger people. Charities stated that the findings suggest that it will soon be a rare disease and a thing of the past.
Researchers at King’s College London have previously stated that they expect to eradicate cervical cancer completely in 80 years.