HPV vaccine for 18 yr DS

[Parsleyslocker]

Hello, my son is 18, and hopefully off to uni in September. He was the last school year not to have been included in the NHS vaccination programme for HPV. The NHS criteria says that under 25s can catch up with a free vaccine if they missed it and are eligible, but DS doesn’t seem to be eligible as he was in the year above. Anyone in the same position who had this given by NHS/GP? Our practice is not forthcoming, and I can’t even find a nearby pharmacy who does this (deepest Hampshire). The Boots in the town in the north of England where he is going to uni does, charges £185 for one dose. This seems ridiculous to have to pay this much for what should be provided on NHS ultimately to save lives/costs (Rhod Gilbert’s cancer relates)
Advice please 😊

If your son might be considering having sex with men, we’d vaccinate him for HPV at my sexual health clinic…

OP@Parsleyslocker You don’t say where you live but there should be catch up clinics running at certain times in your area…you may need to do some digging as likewise our GP practise was spectacularly unhelpful and didn’t know! If you Google / research how to contact your school vaccination team or school nurse they should be able to advise you as ,yes ,it’s free for all under 25’s ( and free for under 45’s for men who have sex with men). In my area for eg. it’s the community nhs trust that have the school vaccination team.

Top tip @WetBandits !!
Thanks @Oopsidid, I had thought it would be free for all under 25s, I was looking at the strict wording that said for all eligible under 25s which technically he wouldn’t be as he was the wrong school year. The (Surrey) school immunisation team told him “The HPV vaccination has only ever been offered to Year 8 Boys with a date of birth range 1-9-2006 to 31-8-2011. (This being because HPV was rolled out to male cohort at a later date than the Female cohort. Unfortunately, because you just fall outside the birth range to receive HPV you would not have been offered this in school and is not something we would be able to offer to you now.” and said to ask the GP who aren’t being helpful.
I feel a battle coming on because even the NHS says as many people as possible should get it! https://www.nhs.uk/vaccinations/hpv-vaccine/ A huge financial barrier in the way (especially as some of us are also trying to fund a meningitis B jab too) unless we go with @WetBandits‘s suggestion!

@Parsleyslocker yes the NHS can be stupidly pedantic sometimes , it’s enough of a battle convincing some parents their girls should have it so they should be making it as easy as possible for boys to get it considering the benefits to themselves as well as future partners!If no joy, maybe worth asking uni health services once there, I know they are often trying to mop up students who’ve not had the MMR etc.

We’d vaccinate for Hep B too 😇

I don’t usually advocate telling fibs in a healthcare context, but I also don’t agree with our policy of offering preventative healthcare to some people and not others.