DT News - UK - BDA and BADN welcome official confirmation of HPV vaccination for boys

Dental Tribune UK

Tue. 24 July 2018

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LONDON, UK: The British Dental Association (BDA) and the British Association of Dental Nurses (BADN), along with other organisations, have welcomed the Department of Health and Social Care’s official confirmation that the vaccination programme against the human papillomavirus (HPV) has been extended to cover adolescent boys. The decision, made by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), will likely see almost 400,000 more individuals vaccinated each year.

The HPV immunisation programme began in 2008 and, until this point, has only been administered to girls as protection from cervical cancer. An infection that can take many years before manifesting as a disease, HPV is the leading cause of oral cancer, particularly among young people, with incidence rates steadily rising. Over the last decade alone, oral cancer numbers have increased by 23 per cent in the UK.

Responding to the news, Chair of the BDA’s Principal Executive Committee Dr Mick Armstrong said, “Every year 400,000 boys have been left unprotected from the life-threatening conditions fuelled by HPV. Finally all our children can benefit from a universal vaccination programme.”

Armstrong continued, “Oral cancer claims more lives than car accidents, and men are twice as likely as women to develop it. Dentists are often the first to see the telltale signs, and have fought to see prevention put into practice.”

“Too many children have missed out as government advisers have dragged their feet on extending the programme. Further delay will only cost lives. Health professionals expect swift roll-out of a national programme,” concluded Armstrong.

BADN President Hazel Coey praised the decision of the JCVI to extend the immunisation programme. “I listened recently to a speaker at the Dentistry Show’s Dental Nurse Forum who explained how the HP virus caused him to have cancer of the head and neck, changing his life forever,” said Coey.

“The horrors of the surgery as a result of the disease, the unspeakable life changes and the financial burden that he endured, leading him to thoughts of suicide—not to mention the costs to the NHS! As President of BADN, as well as a mother and grandmother of boys, I greatly welcome this decision to vaccinate our boys and eradicate this heartache,” Coey added.

It is currently unclear when the extension of the vaccination programme will be implemented.

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