Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans for the HPV vaccination programme at sexual health clinics for men who have sex with men to be rolled out nationally at the earliest opportunity or to be implemented through initial pilot projects.

Jane Ellison

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men (MSM) up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price. JCVI acknowledged that finding a way to implement its advice would be challenging and made clear that work was needed by the Department and others to consider commissioning and delivery routes for this programme.

The Department announced on 26 May 2016 that an HPV vaccination pilot for MSM would start in June.