Beginning this September, British Columbia will become the latest province to provide the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to boys, as part of B.C.’s publicly funded immunization program, Health Minister Terry Lake announced Friday.

“We need to do everything we can to help girls and boys grow up to be healthy adults,” said Lake. “We’ve targeted the program to Grade 6 girls and now Grade 6 boys to better promote the broad coverage needed for effective herd immunity. The HPV vaccine is most effective when administered before a child is first exposed to the virus and will help protect them from HPV-related cancers and other serious health problems.”

B.C.’s HPV immunization program will be expanded to include Grade 6 boys in September 2017, to improve protection against a range of HPV-caused cancers that affect both females and males. Immunization coverage rates for the Grade 6 girls HPV program have not reached levels originally projected, and expanding B.C.’s publicly funded immunization program to include all Grade 6 boys will help ensure HPV vaccine coverage rates promote *herd immunity. Furthermore, the cost of the vaccine has come down substantially, and Health Canada has approved moving from a three-dose to a two-dose series. As a result of these factors, a review of the cost-benefit analysis by public health officials supported the expanded coverage.

The HPV immunization program will become part of the regular school-based immunization clinics.

*Community Immunity (“Herd Immunity“) Vaccines can prevent outbreaks of disease and save lives. When a critical portion of a community is immunized against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against that disease because there is little opportunity for an outbreak.