Take-up Rates of Human Papillomavirus Vaccination by Gender and Age Groups for Past Five Years

Mr Fadli Fawzi asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) what is the current Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination take-up rates for Singaporeans aged 9 to 26, broken down by (i) males and (ii) females, respectively, over the past five years; and (b) whether there are plans to review access to school-based HPV vaccination for males.

Under the National Childhood and Adult Immunisation schedules, the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is recommended for females aged nine to 26 years for prevention of cervical cancer. To increase vaccination coverage among the young females, a school-based vaccination programme was launched in April 2019.

The HPV vaccination rates for females aged 15 years may be found in the Reports on Communicable Diseases Surveillance in Singapore and the Department of Statistics Singapore website. As there is currently no vaccination recommendation for males, the coverage is not tracked.

While HPV vaccination also confers protection against HPV-related cancers in males, the incidence among males is many times lower than cervical cancer among females, hence vaccination is not a national recommendation for young males. Nevertheless, males who feel that they are at high risk of getting HPV may consult their doctor on HPV vaccination.