Why it makes medical – and mathematical – sense to finally vaccinate boys against the HPV virus
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Why it makes medical – and mathematical – sense to finally vaccinate boys against the HPV virus
Christian Yates, University of Bath
From September 2019, boys aged 12 and 13 in the UK are being offered free vaccination against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for the first time. HPV causes cervical cancer, and girls and young women have been receiving the vaccine for over ten years. So why is it being rolled out for boys too? And why only now?
One reason for giving the vaccine to boys is that the vast majority of cases of cervical cancer-causing HPV infections are transmitted through sexual intercourse. Men can carry the virus without symptoms and pass it on to their sexual partners.
In fact, HPV is the most frequently sexually transmitted disease in the world, and over 60% of all cervical cancers are caused by two HPV strains. Cervical cancer itself is the fourth most common cancer in women, with around half a million new cases and over quarter of a million dea...
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