HPV vaccination statistics for men who have sex with men, Scotland
3 year period ending 30 June 2020

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides a summary of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination uptake among men who have sex with men (MSM) since implementation of the national programme in July 2017.

Main points

During the first 3 years of this vaccination programme:

• almost 17,000 MSM who attended a sexual health clinic were eligible for the HPV vaccine. Of those eligible individuals, 65% (10,944) received at least one dose of HPV vaccine, therefore entering the programme
• the number of individuals considered to have completed the full vaccination course was 5,638. For those aged 15 years and over this means having received three doses and for those aged under 15 years, two doses
• all NHS board areas have been offering the vaccine to eligible individuals. However, there is variation in HPV uptake and completion by NHS board area

• over half of eligible individuals who received at least one dose were aged 20 to 29 at the time of their first injection, while less than 1 in 10 were aged under 20

Background

HPV is a virus transmitted through sexual contact and there are over 200 different types. Some types can cause cancers of the anus, penis, mouth and throat, vagina and vulva. Others cause genital warts, which is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases and can have debilitating social, sexual and psychological effects for affected individuals.

A HPV immunisation programme (external website) for MSM aged up to and including 45 years old was introduced in Scotland in July 2017. This is in addition to the school-based vaccination programme targeting girls which was implemented in 2008 and extended to include adolescent boys in academic year 2019 to 2020. MSM are now routinely offered the HPV vaccine through sexual health clinics, with most offered a three dose schedule. The second dose should be given at least one month after the first and the third within 12 months of the second.

The programme was initiated based on advice (external website) from the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which recognised that MSM received little benefit from the national female only HPV programme, while also being at excess risk of HPV-associated disease. HPV ano-genital infection and related disease is disproportionately higher in MSM who are up to 20 times more likely than heterosexual men to develop anal cancer. Additionally, the incidence of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer is increasing in high-income countries in all men. The potential beneficial impact of the HPV immunisation programme for MSM is therefore considerable.

Further information

The data from this publication is available to download from this page along with a metadata document which provides additional information about data sources and data presented.

Childhood immunisation statistics are also available on the PHS website.

The next release of this publication will be October 2021.