HPV Vaccinations

HPV medical forms for students can now be collected from the School Office, forms should be returned to the school no later than 31/03/21. Apologies for short notice.

Eligible students should have received a group call.

The HPV vaccine has been offered free to girls in secondary schools in Scotland since 2008. High uptake of the HPV vaccine has reduced levels of cancer-causing HPV in young women in Scotland by 90%.

• The gender neutral programme was due to launch in Lothian in 2020 and was postponed due to school closures.
• Please ensure that your child's consent form is returned (completed and signed!) by 31 March. Unfortunately, pupils whose forms are received after that date may not be vaccinated.
• Every S1 pupil, regardless of gender is eligible for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for free.
• There is no catch up programme for boys other than those who were in S1 from the launch of the programme in 2020.
• The HPV vaccine protects against HPV which can cause head and neck, cervical and anogenital cancers.
• In the last term before the summer holidays 2021, NHS Lothian will be vaccinating eligible pupils in S1-S6 in school who have either not started or not completed their HPV vaccination course.
• Two doses are generally recommended for full protection.

More information

• Please visit www.nhsinform.scot/hpv for more information.
• For more information on HPV-related cancers visit www.hpv-vaccine.scot
• For more about HPV as well as other sources of help and information visit www.nhsinform.scot/hpv
• To access the NHSScotland HPV leaflet for 2019-20 in English, Arabic, Polish, simplified Chinese or as an Easy Read version visit www.healthscotland.com/documents/5988.aspx
• To access the BSL version of the HPV information leaflet visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=14YjLfi_uYE
• For publications or documents in an alternative format such as large print, braille and audio versions, please contact Health Scotland publications by emailing nhs.healthscotland-alternativeformats@nhs.net
• For information on young people's right to consent visit www.nhsinform.scot/consentunder16
• To access the stakeholder HPV toolkit please visit www.nhsinform.scot/campaigns/hpv#campaign-resources