Question reference: S5W-27192
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 29 January 2020
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Current status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 25 February 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what advice is being given to concerned parents of boys who will not be covered by the HPV vaccination programme.
Answer
Vaccination policy in Scotland, as with the rest of the UK, is based on recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI has not recommended a catch up of older boys at this time on the basis that the girls’ HPV vaccination programme has proved highly successful, with coverage in Scotland exceeding 90% in the routine cohort, which has established good levels of herd protection and means that there would be limited additional benefits to be gained from a catch up programme in boys. The JCVI keeps its recommendations under review and if the advice on HPV vaccination was to change we would of course give this due consideration.