Starting this fall, males who are at risk for HPV can get immunized free of charge.
The province has announced that in September boys and young men up to age 26 are eligible for the immunization.
BC’s Chief Medical Officer Perry Kendall says there has been a lot of progress getting young women vaccinated for HPV.
“Now men who have sex with men,” says Kendall, “are at particular high risk for HPV infections for anal cancers and cancers of the neck and throat, and what we are doing now is offering the HPV vaccine to the at risk men.”
Kendall says human papilloma virus is the most common sexually transmitted infection.
He says a HPV immunization can be arranged through your local public health clinic.