Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of a HPV vaccination programme for boys too old to be eligible for the universal programme; and if he will make a statement.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for boys aged 12-13 was rolled out nationally in September 2019. There are no plans for a catch-up HPV vaccination programme for older males as evidence suggests that they are already benefitting greatly from the indirect protection, known as herd protection, that has built up from 10 years of the girls’ HPV vaccination programme. The priority is to make sure that as many eligible 12-13-year-old boys and girls as possible are offered protection from HPV infection from the 2019-20 school year.

In April 2018, the HPV vaccination programme was extended to include men who have sex with men offering protection for males at particularly high risk up to the age of 45.

The current United Kingdom approach is supported by the best available evidence and by recommendations from our independent experts, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.