Petition for boys to have HPV vaccine on nhs

[ChoudeBruxelles]

Girls currently have the hpv vaccine between ages 12-14 as it is a major cause of cervical cancer.

Hpv is also the cause of about half of throat cancers and also penile cancer. Boys who have sex with girls who are vaccinated will be protected however if they have sex with unvaccinated women or women are not protected.

Would you sign this petition for boys to be vaccinated too. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/211225

[Toomanytealights]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43967144

I read this this morning and will be signing,it's really worrying particularly for those of us with gay sons.

Could you put an actual link on?

[carrie74]

Signed. My nephew in the US was vaccinated, I'm cross it's not done here as standard as well, presumably if it were then HPV would eventually be eradicated?

[Toomanytealights]

It's £450 to have it done,for us this is a huge amount. Going to have to find it from somewhere.

Wondering if we should bring more attention to it somehow. I had no idea until this morning.

[ChoudeBruxelles]

Meant to say or having sex with men. Not women or women.

[ChoudeBruxelles]

Toomanytealights There’s also a national shortage of the vaccine so difficult to get it done privately at the minute

[Toomanytealights]

Mine are 14, is there a window?

[Toomanytealights]

Kiss if I took ds to the gp and told him he was gay,would he get it free?

[OrchidFlakes]

Just be aware many countries have banned this vaccine or stopped using pending further research due to adverse reactions.

I have 2 DS and wouldn’t use this for either until more research is done. And before anyone accuses me of anything I have had cervical cancer

[ChoudeBruxelles]

I think it’s recommended before being sexually active. But not certain

[Toomanytealights]

Is it not the same one girls are being given?

[SexTrainGlue]

Essentially the window is 'before they have sex' so the programmed jab is 13ish (ie before that except for those raped as children).

But older is fine/safe, but won't be effective if HPV exposure has already happened.

[Toomanytealights]

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/31/hpv-vaccine-boys-cancer-rates

Same vaccine as most girls have at 13,my dd has had it. It's the one they get at 13 in school.Many other countries already giving it to boys. Fears unfounded as to vaccine safety.

[Toomanytealights]

The cancer rates this vaccine stops are soaring.

[Toomanytealights]

Gps are giving it to their own sons.

[annandale]

The cancer this vaccine stops in boys are also very rare, which is why the NHS isn't paying for it for boys yet. I am lucky to have been able to pay for it privately for ds but that is because I work in a head and neck cancer unit. Another poster pointed out some good papers the other day - the risk is really not that high without other risk factors. I'm still glad I got it for ds but please don't panic.

[Toomanytealights]

That isn't what the Guardian article says,quite the reverse.

[Toomanytealights]

Says head and neck cancer soaring across the world and is the fastest growing. New figures to be published soon.

Bbc said the figures are comparable for boys to cervical cancer in girls. If it's good enough for girls,it's good enough for boys.

[RatRolyPoly]

Can someone do a clicky link to the petition please? My phone is being shit.

[Toomanytealights]

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/211225

[RatRolyPoly]

Thank you toomany, will sign now :)

[DairyisClosed]

Surely this is one of the few vaccines that can actually wait until children are old enough to decide for themselves? While I am very pro vaccine in general I don't think that we should be doing anything to our children that won't provide them with a benefit that they would otherwise not have. As pp have pointed out one can have the vaccine at any age so why push it on children? My paestum decided to delay having me vaccinated for HPV (second year it was offered was my turn and the heat before there had been several hospitalisations and one death following the vaccine in my city alone. It wasn't clear whether there was a causal link and exactly what the problem was. I don't think it was ever cleared up but must have been a coincidence because there haven't been any other issues since.). In the end i didn't need it at all (married my first boyfriend who was HPV negative) obviously if we divorce I can still go and get it. If they had chosen to have it done they would have usurped my bodily autonomy for no reason and with no benefit. If a vaccine can wait then, like any other unnecessary medical procedure, it should.

[Toomanytealights]

So you don't think girls should have it either?

It's too late to make the decision after they've been exposed to it which is why girls are vaccinated so young.

[ChoudeBruxelles]

DairyisClosed I’m planning to have a conversation with ds (12) about the vaccine so that we can joint decide whether him having soonish will be beneficial (I’ll pay for it to be done privately). He’s old enough to have an opinion obviously and I wouldn’t force him but I’d prefer him to have before he becomes sexually active.