Parents across the UK will soon receive a form to sign enabling their children to receive the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV).
Once only given to girls, the HPV vaccine is now available to all genders at ages 12 and 13 and is a crucial defence in the fight against cancer.
Oracle Head & Neck Cancer UK are calling on all Year 8 parents to sign away their child’s risk of developing cancer in later life by saying yes to the vaccine.
An estimated 80% of people come into contact with a high-risk HPV infection in their lifetime. While most of the time HPV causes no harm, high-risk HPV infections could result in head and neck cancer, cervical cancer, genital cancer, anal cancer and genital warts.
Around 700,000 people a year worldwide are diagnosed with HPV-related cancers, with cases having doubled in the last two decades, making HPV the fastest-growing cause of cancer in the UK.
Individuals who may have missed their chance to be vaccinated in their early teens can participate in a free catch-up programme available to girls aged under 25 and boys born after 1 September 2006.
HPV cancers
Eligible individuals who are immunosuppressed or at higher risk of HPV infection should contact their GP or health clinic for additional catch up programmes. The vaccine is halal and porcine free.
HPV cancers are one of few to have a vaccine. The vaccine could prevent over 100,000 cancers by 2058, making it important that the uptake increases.
Michelle Vickers is chief awareness officer at Oracle Head & Neck Cancer UK. She said: ‘High-risk HPV infections are now the fastest growing risk factor and leading cause of Head and Neck cancers, with more than 3,300 new cases of head and neck cancer linked to HPV infections each year in the UK.
‘Both boys and girls can develop cancers caused by high-risk HPV infections when they grow up.
‘In 2022 only 56% of girls and 52% of boys were vaccinated, lagging well behind other countries.
‘Sign the HPV consent form and Sign Away Cancer.’
To learn more about Oracle Head & Neck Cancer and the Sign Away Campaign visit oraclehnc.org.uk/signawaycancer.
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