BOYS should get an anti-cancer vaccination that is currently only given to girls, campaigners say.

Adolescent girls receive the human papilloma virus jab to protect against cervical cancer during their second year of secondary school.

3 The HPV jab could protect boys from related cancers, and campaigners want it to be made available Credit: Getty Images

It is thought nearly all the 3,100 cases of cervical cancer diagnosed in the UK each year are related to HPV.

It can cause cancers in other parts of the body and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation met yesterday to discuss whether boys should also be given the injection.

Under the current immunisation scheme, 12 and 13-year-old UK girls are given the HPV vaccination.

3 Adolescent girls receive the human papilloma virus jab to protect against cervical cancer Credit: Getty Images

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HPV Action - a coalition of medical, patient and professional organisations - has been calling for boys to also receive the jab, saying that the vaccine could protect them from several HPV-related cancers.

11 countries including Australia, Austria, Italy and Norway are already vaccinating boys or will be doing so in the near future.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common sexually transmitted disease which affects at least half of people who are sexually active

Peter Baker, HPV Action’s campaign director, added: “HPV affects men and women equally and both sexes therefore deserve equal protection through a national vaccination programme.

“It is now time for the Government’s vaccination advisory committee to listen to the doctors treating men with cancers caused by HPV and, above all, to the men whose lives have been devastated, and act now to prevent the suffering of more men from this easily-preventable infection.”