Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green, Mike Freer, has today welcomed an influential health committee’s recommendation to extend the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) programme to boys.

The committee that advises the Department of Health, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, made a formal recommendation that a “gender neutral” approach to the vaccine should be taken. The vaccine, which helps protect against cervical, mouth and throat cancers, is currently only offered free to girls aged 12 to 18.

A Government official said it would consider the advice before making any announcement.

Commenting Mike said, “I welcome the committee’s recommendation. I have long been calling for the committee to change its view and back an extension to the vaccination programme to include boys. The committee’s conclusion that this change would be highly-cost effective is yet another compelling reason to press ahead. Other countries have already made this change and we should do the same.”

Mike has been campaigning to see the vaccination programme extended to boys since he was first elected, raising the issue with Ministers from the Department of Health in Adjournment and Westminster Hall debates (pictured in 2016) and by tabling Parliamentary questions.