Government ‘letting gay men die’ by not offering HPV vaccine to boys
By Josh Haggis
The UK government has been accused of “letting gay men die” because of their refusal to vaccinate boys against HPV.
Currently in the UK, teenage girls are given a three-course treatment to prevent them from contracting the sexually transmitted virus, which can lie dormant for years and lead to aggressive forms of cancer. They are then protected for life against the virus, as is any man or woman who has sex with them.
However, this doesn’t apply to gay men, who remain at high risk of contracting the virus due to not having sexual contact with women. Despite the government’s refusal, other countries around the world including Australia and America have taken steps to vaccinate both men and women against the virus.
“It is discrimination. It’s backwards and negligent. It’s non-science as well as being nonsensical,” Dr. Christian told Buzzfeed.
He continued: “As soon as the government announced the vaccine was for girls, all of us working in the field said, ‘What about the boys?’ The noise was immediately there and has been constantly there, and it has taken a very long time for anything to happen. That is odd when other countries are giving the vaccine to boys quite happily.”
“Not giving boys the HPV vaccine is institutional homophobia. The government is letting gay and bisexual men die of cancer,” added TV doctor Max Pemberton.
In response to the controversy, The Department of Health told Buzzfeed that independent advisers are currently reassessing the government’s current plan.
“We recognise that the programme does not currently offer protection against HPV for men who have sex with men, which is why our independent vaccine advisers, The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation, are currently working on this with the aim of providing us with their advice soon.”
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