Helen Petousis-Harris A leading health researcher has joined the call for free HPV immunisation for boys which would lessen the likelihood of them developing cancers of the mouth, throat, penis and anus in men, with a particularly high incidence in men who have sex with men. Currently a vaccine for human papillomavirus, or HPV, is made available to girls as a guard against cervical cancer. This treatment means young straight males or other women who have sexual contact with treated girls are less likely to pick up HPV. But immunising girls has no such benefit for gay youths and men. The vaccine works best if administered before a person's first sexual experience but trying to differentiate between straight and gay boys at an early age would be extremely difficult so pro-vaccination campaigners are asking for all boys to have free access. At present government health agencies refuse to fund the vaccine for boys on the grounds of expense. Dr Helen Petousis-Harris, director of immunisation research and vaccinology at the University of Auckland has made the call, backing up advice from sexual health experts including Dr Peter Saxton, who has described HPV vaccination as "an incredibly important and timely issue for gay and bisexual men in New Zealand." A programme of vaccination of young males has produced excellent results in Australia but NZ drug funding agency Pharmac has so far left free provision of HPV vaccine for boys only as an option for the future.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 27th April 2015 - 6:58pm