FGDP(UK) says oral cancer fight hangs in the balance as JCVI defers decision on HPV

In July, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consulted on an ‘interim position’ that it was not minded to recommend that boys be immunised. HPV Action, a campaign group of which the Faculty is a member, responded that the JCVI’s position was legally questionable and the result of flawed modelling, and separately sent a detailed equality analysis of the policy to the Department of Health. Minutes published this week reveal that the JCVI has now taken a step back from its interim position, deferring a decision until its modelling has been reviewed and equality issues have been more fully considered.

HPV causes 5 per cent of all cancers, and 2,000 men a year in the UK are diagnosed with an HPV-related cancer, of whom almost half will die from the condition within five years. HPV is the leading cause of oropharyngeal cancers, and over two-thirds of oral cancer diagnoses, which have increased sharply in recent years to around 20 a day, are in men.