Parliament Workbench

Petition · PE01477 · Session 4

Gender neutral Human Papillomavirus vaccination

Closed Submitted 19 Feb 2013 Health
Signatures
150
101 online signatures with a country
Comments
5
Considered
13 meetings
in the Official Report

What it asks

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to extend the current Human Papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme in Scotland to include boys.

What the petitioner did first

Throat Cancer Foundation have submitted an Early Day Motion to the House of Commons and have encouraged our supporters to write to their Westminister MPs to raise awareness of this issue. The motion was sponsored by John Robertson MP of the Labour Party. The Early Day Motion has now got 58 signatories with support coming from across the political spectrum.Our charity is, however, registered in Scotland and we wish to highlight this issue in Scotland, not just the UK.
We attended an event called Broader Burden of Human Papillomavirus in the Scottish Parliament on 15th January 2013. This event was organised by Sanofi Pastuer MSD and was attended by Nanette Milne MSP and Patrick Harvie MSP as well as Scotland's head of Human Papillomavirus research Dr Kate Cuschieri . The seminar had two presentations by Dr Martin Donaghy, Medical Director Health Protection Scotland and Dr Ned Powell Senior Lecturer Human Papillomavirus Oncology Group Institute of Cancer and Genetics School of Medicines, University of Cardiff. After this event a parliamentary motion was lodged by Nanette Milne MSP.
In addtion have sought the counsel and gathered the support of 150 medical/public health experts who support our petition statement. They include some world leaders of oncology, epidemiology and other related fields.
We have held informal meetings with Dr Martin Donaghy, Medical Officer for Health Protection Scotland, Professor Heather Cubie, recently retired Director, Scottish HPV Reference Laboratory, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Honorary Professor of Research and Research Management, University of Edinburgh and have engaged with public health bodies in Scotland, these are: NHS Tayside;Dental Public Health and NHS Greater Glasgow. These meetings have been fact finding missions and informal with staff members from a number of different disciplines:medical research, cancer care, dentistry, public health policy and surgery, not to lobby for support of this petition.
We have held informal meetings with two MSP's which have been to raise awareness of the issue and not to lobby for this petition to be signed. We met Alex Neil MSP on the 4th February 2013 and Angus McDonlald MSP on the 18th of February 2013. We have a further meeting with Alex Neil arranged for later this year (date to be confirmed) to discuss the issue of gender nuetral vaccination and this petition.
We have sought media coverage for this issue Scotland and UK wide. This has been in the printed press, on-line media, television media and radio. The focus of the media attention was on the Early Day Motion signed by over 50 MP's and the 150 leading medical experts who have signed this petition statement.

Where it was considered

Official Report
  1. 11 Jun 2013
    1 mention
  2. 1 Oct 2013
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  3. 10 Dec 2013
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  4. 4 Mar 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  5. 25 Nov 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  6. 31 Mar 2015
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  7. 12 Jan 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  8. 26 Jan 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  9. 8 Mar 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  10. 30 Jun 2016
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    1 mention
  11. 13 Sep 2016
    1 mention
  12. 25 Oct 2016
    1 mention
  13. 27 Nov 2018
    1 mention

Signatures by country

101 online signatures
  1. Scotland67 66.3%
  2. England13 12.9%
  3. United Kingdom12 11.9%
  4. United States4 4%
  5. Australia4 4%
  6. Ireland1 1%

Comments

5 comments, oldest first
  1. Anne Lumsden 16 Apr 2013
    Not to give it to both sexes repeats the mistake when only girls were given rubella vaccination
  2. Nelson McFarlane 17 Apr 2013
    It makes no sense to perpetuate gender-specific vaccination. A relatively small investment is likely to save the NHS in the longer term. There is also a moral obligation on MSPs to consider and change the current situation.
  3. Chris Curtis, Chairman Swallows Head & Neck Cancer Group 23 Apr 2013
    Good luck in getting all your Boys vaccinated, we are running the same campaign here in England
  4. Hegel Hernandez 2 May 2013
    Protecting everyone for cervical cancer, penis cancer, anal cancer, neck and head cancers HPV related.
  5. Claudia 3 May 2013
    Instead of pushing aheontr Big Pharma profit venue on unsuspecting citizens why not recommend those considering submitting their children as guinea pigs for an untested vaccine first do their research, starting with Judicial Watch. Next research the astronomical amount of money spent on lobbyists who have successfully convinced elected and appointed officials to work in the best interest of special interest (Big Pharma) vs the interests of their constituents. Contrary to your derogatory comments re Republicans, parents can easily confirm the risks associated with this vaccine and reasons why it has been banned in certain countries by people who, to the best of my knowledge, are not Republicans.