HPV: Secrecy and false assumptions
Dentist leaders have accused the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) of leaving 400,000 boys a year at risk of cancer, after using opaque and apparently flawed modelling as a basis to reject blanket vaccinations against the human papillomavirus (HPV).
The JCVI made an interim decision on July 19, launching a consultation on its ruling that closed on August 31.
The British Dental Association (BDA) understands the committee has withheld vital information from publicly-funded studies, because authors of the models wish to keep their work confidential until they can publish it in academic journals. Of the two models considered by the JCVI, one has not even been subjected to peer review, so its validity has not been established.
Based on the limited information supplied by the JCVI, the BDA has said that the models are likely to give an over-conservative estimate of the benefit of vaccinating boys and have led the JCVI to a misguided conclusion on cost-effectiveness.
HPV has emerged as the leading cause of oropharyngeal cancer, especially among young people, and rates are rising steeply overall. It is linked to five per cent of all cancers worldwide, including some that affect only men. Dentists are often the first to spot the tell-tale signs of oral cancer.
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