MEN who have sex with men will be offered the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination in St Helens.

NHS England and Public Health England plan to do a phased rollout of the programme, which is aimed at men aged 45 or younger, from April 2018.

HGV vaccinations has been offered to girls aged 11-13 in St Helens through their school or GP since 2008 to help protect them against types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer.

The move was prompted by increasing evidence of the links between HPV infection and non-cervical cancers in men who have sex with men.

Speaking at St Helens Council's health and adult social care overview and scrutiny panel on Monday, Sue Forster, director of public health for the council, said: “There were a lot of debates in the early years of the HPV vaccine coming on board as to why it would only be female-only vaccine.

"Often these decision are based on cost and the evidence.

“In the early days it was absolutely decided that girls would be the greatest beneficiary from HPV vaccine.

"However the problem with that is that it always puts the emphasis around sexual health issues onto the women, and these have been debated quite widely.”

In 2016, 42 sexual health clinics across England piloted a scheme offering HPV vaccines to men who have sex with men.

Ms Forster told councillors that a Government sub-committee recently concluded that extending the school-based HPV vaccination to adolescent boys would “not be a cost-effective use of health service resources”.

In St Helens, the vaccination programme will be delivered through the borough’s sexual health (GUM) clinics.

Cllr Gill Neal, the council’s cabinet member for public health, also said at the meeting that the council will not offer routine screenings for HIV.

Routine screenings do not currently take place in St Helens as its prevalence rate – the proportion of persons in a population who have a particular disease – is 0.99 per cent, which is not considered high.

However, all women are screened during pregnancy and people seen as high risk can receive routine checks.

“Around men who have sex with men, in general practice they will be seen as a risk, as would people who are coming from certain countries,” Ms Forster said.

“So, the very high-risk categories would be screened.”