Boys should be given the HPV vaccine along with girls in a bid to curb the rise in throat cancers later in life, experts say.

Since 2008, girls aged 12 and 13 in the UK have been given a vaccination for the human papilloma virus (HPV), which protects them not only from genital warts but also cervical and throat cancers.

But researchers want boys of the same age to be also included in the government programme.

“If we want to eradicate male throat cancers – which are soaring in numbers – we need to act speedily and that means giving them the HPV vaccine we now give to girls,” Professor Mark Lawler, of Queen’s University Belfast, told the Observer.