Plaid Cymru welcomes decision by JCVI and urges immediate response from Welsh Government

Responding to the JCVI statement released today on recommending extending the HPV vaccine programme to adolescent boys in line with the current programme for girls, Plaid Cymru’s shadow cabinet secretary for health Rhun ap Iorwerth AM said,

“I was pleased to be able to bring forward a debate to the Assembly last month on expanding the use of the human papilloma virus vaccine to adolescent boys, because of the clear evidence of the effectiveness of this vaccine in preventing serious cancers, including head and neck cancers. In that debate, Welsh Government said it was awaiting advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on whether to extend the HPV vaccination programme to adolescent boys.

“Now we have their advice – to recommend extending the HPV vaccine programme to adolescent boys in line with the current programme for girls, why wait? Now, surely the Welsh Government have no reason to delay the decision any longer. Other parts of the UK have taken the deicision already – what are Welsh Government waiting for?”

“In response to the announcement, I’ve written to the Cabinet Secretary to ask for an immediate response from government to press ahead.”