Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-02-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the human papilloma virus vaccination programme for men who have sex with men will commence.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department and Public Health England are currently undertaking a procurement exercise to secure vaccine to support the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for girls. The procurement will take account of the costs and benefits of all vaccines offered to establish which provides best value for money for the National Health Service.
In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted HPV vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men 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. The 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. This work is already underway and we will announce our plans as soon as we can.