A SUBMISSION calling for adolescent boys to be offered free Gardasil vaccinations to prevent genital warts and some cancers will be discussed in March.
Pharmaceutical company CSL’s submission will come before the next meeting of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.
The submission calls for 12 and 13-year-old boys to be eligible for free Gardasil vaccinations under the National Immunisation Program, the same as girls.
Australian Medical Association Queensland president Gino Pecoraro has been pushing for boys to be given the same access to Gardasil as girls since he took on the role last June.
Gardasil guards against four strains of the human papilloma virus, which accounts for 70 per cent of cervical cancer in women.
“There is increasing evidence that the same sub-types of HPV are implicated in head and neck cancer and in anal cancer,” Dr Pecoraro said.
By Janelle Miles
The Courier-Mail