Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve awareness of HPV vaccination eligibility among young men who missed the school-based vaccination programme.
Answer
I refer the Hon. Member to vaccination coverage statistics for human papillomavirus (HPV) for males and females, available at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake Alongside NHS England, the UK Health Security Agency and the Department for Education, we are working to improve HPV vaccination rates for both males and females, including making it easier for parents to consent for school vaccinations; revising health education guidance in school to improve awareness of vaccination amongst both male and female students; and expanding our national vaccination communications campaign specifically to target young adults who missed routine adolescent vaccinations at school.
Verdict: GREEN (86/100)
The question asked what action is being taken to reach young adults who missed routine vaccinations at school. The reply answers this directly: it commits to expanding the national vaccination communications campaign to target that group, and it adds a concrete step of revising school health education guidance to raise awareness among male and female students. A joint cross-agency approach is also set out. One sentence only points to published statistics and adds nothing on the action itself, but the core question is clearly and specifically answered.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the department is doing to improve awareness of HPV vaccination eligibility among young men who missed the school-based vaccination programme. | Addressed | Direct | Statement 5 directly answers the question by committing to expand the national vaccination communications campaign specifically to target young adults who missed routine adolescent vaccinations at school, which is the group the question names. Statement 4 adds a concrete action (revising school health education guidance to raise awareness among male and female students), and statement 2 sets the joint cross-agency context. Statement 1 is only a statistics referral and adds nothing on the action being taken. |