HPV vaccine for Y11/Y12 boys

[OhM8]

Has your Y11/Y12 son had the HPV vaccine? I have 2 sons, one in Y11 and one in Y12 and neither of them have had it.

If I understand correctly it's only boys born after 1 September 2006 who automatically get offered the vaccine at school and I wondered whether anyone had arranged for the vaccine for their sons born before that date.

It seems the rates of HPV and in particular cervical cancers are already dropping as a result of the vaccination programme in girls so I wondered why it wasn't being rolled out to older boys. I might be missing something or alternatively it could be a case of funding/timing/pandemic fallout.

My Y11 hasn't. I keep meaning to get him vaccinated privately, so will get on and book that now.

No he's never been offered it but I would get him vaccinated if it was.

It isn’t offered to this age group although ds2 now in year 10 has had it. We paid for ds1 (year 12) to get it done privately

My Y11 has had it. He was born May 2006 and they had theirs at school during the first lockdown in May 2020.

If you find a number for the childhood vaccinations team online and contact them, they're usually very helpful.

Worth knowing that if your son is gay or bisexual they can get the vaccination for free on the NHS from the sexual health clinic.

When I spoke to a nurse at our local GP she explained that it was only offered to girls because of funding but now they are seeing such good results they are happy to fund the vaccination for everybody around that age. Good news really!

Neither of my Y11 boys have had it. They attend different schools in different LAs too.

Thanks all

I'll look into getting it done privately/outside school

Yes I thought it was important so took him to Boots and paid. Due to lockdowns messing up the gaps he ended up having to have 3 doses rather than 2.

My son was born at the very end of august 2006, youngest in his year and missed out by days.

I've paid for my year 11 DS to have it done privately. Best to have the first dose when they are 14 or younger as then you only need to pay for two doses. It's three doses if they are 15 or older at the time of the first dose.

My Y8 ds had his at school recently.

My Y12 son had it done at Boots when he was 14 so we'd only need to pay for two jabs as at the time it was seen as the easier option for him compared to a sexual health clinic (language-related difficulties plus still very awkward discussing anything to do with that. He 'told' me he was bisexual by filling in a form next to me that included sexuality).

As a pp said, the previous girls-only was largely a funding issue and was promoted by focusing on the protection from cervical cancers over other cancers connected to HPV (both female only ones likely vulva and vagina, but also anal and throat cancers and for guys, penis) so it took some years to get support for boys to get it the same way - I remember during those years having more than a few people confused as to why boys would get it.

Year 12 boys not eligible. There was no catch up campaign for them. I have one.
Year 11 boys yes, should have had.
Interestingly, as a male if you present at a sexual health clinic and tell them you are bi/homosexual then you are entitled to it for free. I questioned this at immunisation training and the trainer basically said it was morally questionable to do that but they couldn't prove otherwise so would have to vaccinate.

I'm the same as @BooksAndHooks. Had my son been 8 days younger I would have saved £330!
Went to SuperDrug clinic. Great service.
Very glad all children will be protected in the future