The cervical cancer vaccine should be given to boys as well as girls, to protect them and their future partners from genital warts and cancer, public health experts say.
The main introduction of the $177 million vaccination programme, which aims to immunise 300,000 Kiwi schoolgirls over five years, begins this week.
The vaccine, Gardasil, has been available free to 17 and 18-year-olds since September.
About 20,000 teenage girls have already had the three doses necessary to protect them against four strains of human papilloma virus (HPV), the main cause of genital warts and cervical cancer.
The vaccine's maker, Merck Sharp & Dohme, says it plans to apply to have Gardasil licensed for boys and men up to the age of 26 after new research showing it prevents 90 per cent of genital warts and pre-cancerous lesions in males.
Immunisation Advisory Centre director Nikki Turner said extending the vaccine to boys would be more expensive but could have major health benefits.
"It could benefit the individual by protecting them against genital warts and cancers.
"HPV is implicated in 40 per cent of penile cancer. From a population perspective, vaccinating boys could also reduce the carriage of HPV in the community, though we don't yet have the evidence for that."
Gardasil is at present licensed for boys aged nine to 15 in New Zealand as in Australia and the European Union but is not publicly funded.
Merck has filed an application with the United States Food and Drug Administration to license it for use in males aged nine to 26.
Gardasil product manager Joanna Hayward-Slattery said the pharmaceutical company planned to lodge an application with the New Zealand Health Ministry this year to extend coverage to men up to the age of 26.
"Hopefully we will get approval by the end of next year."
Medsafe spokesman Stewart Jessamine said the Health Ministry was monitoring the US application. There were no plans to extend the vaccine to boys for free.
More than 26 million doses of Gardasil have been given worldwide.
Since Gardasil was licensed in New Zealand in July 2006, Otago University's monitoring centre for adverse reactions had received 30 reports of adverse effects, including fatigue, vomiting, diarrhoea and arm pain.
A SHOT IN THE ARM:
Gardasil protects against common strains of the sexually transmitted HPV human papilloma virus responsible for causing more than 70 per cent of cervical cancers.
It is free to girls aged 12 to 18. Parental consent is required for girls under 16.
Vaccinated women still need regular smears to check for pre-cancerous changes caused by other strains of HPV.
There are 160 new cases of cervical cancer in New Zealand each year and 65 deaths.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4835957a6479.html
