Surrey mum gets her 17 year old son vaccinated against HPV
21 January 2020
Last September, the NHS began vaccinating Year 8 boys, as well as girls, against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which can cause certain types of cancer including cervical, anal or head and neck cancers. HPV is the cause of around 5% of all cancers.
Until now, only Year 8 girls have been vaccinated against the virus. If your son was already in Year 9 and above when the vaccination programme was introduced in September, then he will not be offered the vaccine and will have to access it privately.
Spire Gatwick Park has introduced a HPV vaccination service for men and women aged 12 to 44.
The HPV vaccine helps protect against genital warts, cervical and anal cancers, as well as head and neck cancers.
Patient story:
Andrea lives in Reigate and is a mum of three to Ben, aged 17, and two daughters aged 14 and 12. Ben is studying A Levels at Reigate College and recently had a course of HPV vaccinations at Spire Gatwick Park Hospital.
Mum Andrea says: “Both of my daughters have had the HPV vaccination at secondary school. I am happy that my girls have been vaccinated against HPV to help protect them against cervical cancer.
"However, I didn’t realise that HPV could also cause anal, head and neck cancers and genital warts. It wasn’t until I saw an article on Facebook (posted by Dr Jatindar Thompson from Spire Gatwick Park) that explained this and how this affects both females and males.
"I enquired at my GP surgery to try to get Ben vaccinated but was told that this was not possible. So, I contacted Dr Thompson and arranged for Ben to have a course of HPV vaccinations at Spire Gatwick Park Hospital.
"Ben wants to stay fit and healthy and was very keen to get it done. We discussed it together and I didn’t have to drag him to the hospital to have the vaccination.
"Private vaccinations are expensive, but I think it is worth it if it saves Ben from going through health problems, stress (and) time off studying/work due to ill health at a later date.”
Ben adds: “I want to stay well and healthy so why wouldn’t I want to have this done?”
If you would like to book an appointment with our private GPs please contact us on 01293 839 106 or go to our online portal.