A safe sex campaigner says it is “essential” gay men in Wales use a new vaccination programme against a cancer-causing virus.
Welsh Health Minister Mark Drakeford today announced an HPV vaccination programme for gay men - the first of its kind in the UK.
The human papilloma virus (HPV) can cause certain types of cancer associated with sexual activity, and the vaccination is already offered to 12 and 13-year-old girls to guard against cervical cancer .
Men between 16 and 45 years old who attend specialist sexual health clinics will be offered the jab, although no start date is set for the programme.
“Men who have sex with men are a group who receive little indirect protection from the highly successful HPV vaccination programme for adolescent girls,” said Prof Drakeford.
“I have approved the introduction of a new targeted HPV vaccination programme for men who have sex with men up to the age of 45.
“We will now give careful consideration about how this programme will be delivered and will make a further announcement in due course.”
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) gives advice to governments in the UK and recommended the introduction of the scheme.
The JCVI has also recommended giving the vaccine to men over 45, sex workers and HIV-positive men and women on a case by case basis.
The advice came after research evidence emerged linking HPV immunisation with prevention of a wider range of cancers which may be more commonly seen in gay men.
Keith Parry, campaigner and founder of Bangor-based safe-sex charity Mesmac, believes the new immunisation programme is a vital but overdue tool in the fight against sexually transmitted diseases.
He has personal experience of the effects of the virus, having twice been diagnosed with associated cancers.
“It’s essential for them to have the vaccines, not just because of the safe sex but because of the cancer,” said Keith, 60, who set up the organisation after losing five of his friends to Aids-related diseases more than 20 years ago.
“Lots of young men admit to having experimented with men and it only takes one time to get a disease.”
Keith went to see his doctor in 2009 because he was worried about a polyp he had found and was bleeding.
Keith had chemotherapy and radiotherapy and has been in remission since 2010. It will take another five years to get the all-clear.
He added: “This vaccine is something other countries have been giving to men who have sex with men for years, but it will help lots of people and hopefully stop many people having cancer.”
