The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) made a recommendation that the HPV vaccine should be given to boys. On foot of NIAC’s recommendation, my Department asked the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to undertake a health technology assessment (HTA) in relation to extending the national immunisation schedule to include human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of boys. HIQA completed the HTA in December 2018 and recommended that the HPV immunisation programme be extended to include boys. A policy decision was made to extend the HPV immunisation programme to include boys and introduce a 9-valent HPV vaccine starting in September 2019.
In relation to the operational matters raised I have asked the HSE to reply directly to the Deputy.