Extension of HPV Vaccination Programme and One-off Catch-up Programme to Male Students

Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Health whether consideration can be made to extend the HPV vaccination programme and the one-off catch-up programme to male students as well.

The Ministry of Health (MOH), consults the Expert Committee on Immunisation and takes into account criteria such as the disease burden in Singapore, the need for herd immunity as protection against outbreaks of potentially serious diseases, and the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the vaccine, when including vaccines in the national schedules and school-based vaccination programmes. The aim is to prevent diseases with significant public health burden, by encouraging high vaccination take-up rates.

The school-based HPV vaccination programme for female students aims to prevent cervical cancer, which is caused by HPV. Cervical cancer is the tenth most common cancer and eighth most common cause of cancer death among females in Singapore. We have assessed that HPV vaccination for females is a cost-effective strategy for preventing cervical cancer.

While HPV vaccination also confers protection against genital warts as well as other cancers, such as anal cancer, which are applicable to males, males are not at risk for cervical cancer. Genital warts are a much less serious problem compared to cervical cancer, and the incidence of anal cancer is much lower than cervical cancer in Singapore. HPV vaccination for males is therefore not part of the Committee’s current recommendations.

MOH will continue to monitor the situation, and will review our policy on HPV vaccination for males as and when new developments and evidence emerge on its clinical and cost effectiveness.