Fresh calls for HPV vaccine for NI boys
Health professionals urge Department to fall in line with rest of UK
A leading cancer charity is again calling for the Department of Health to bring in the HPV vaccination for boys in Northern Ireland.
The Human Papilloma Virus can cause some cancers as well as genital warts.
It comes after the Secretary of State announced new legislation could give civil servants more powers to make decisions here.
A vaccination programme for girls between 12-13 is currently in place in Northern Ireland.
Earlier this year England, Scotland and Wales announced a similar programme for boys will be rolled out in 2019.
In response, the Department of Health said it had begun preparing, in case the programme is introduced for boys but said any changes would require sign off from a Health Minister.
Gerry McElwee is head of cancer prevention at Cancer Focus NI and says that could all change:
"The recent legislation that the Secretary of State passed through Westminster leads us to believe civil servants now have the power to make a decision like this.
"We're calling on the civil servants in the department to make that decision as soon as possible so that an implementation plan can be revealed and so that the education and health authorities can start putting funding and people in place to roll out this programme in September of next year."The charity has been involved
He added: "There is clearly a very real danger that boys in Northern Ireland will be left behind and therefore remain at risk of potentially life-threatening diseases.
“There’s an urgent need for an implementation plan to enable the roll out of a vaccination programme for local boys by next September.
"This should include a catch-up programme for boys which parallels that available for girls and vaccine uptake."
A men's health conference will take place on Wednesday to urge the Department to take action immediately.