What’s missing in the conversations about the HPV vaccine? Men

The burden of responsibility

For a woman, the journey to prevent cervical cancer is often marked by invasive exams, anxiety-inducing screenings, and the social stigma of a ‘positive’ result. For men, the experience is often one of total ignorance. A man can carry high-risk HPV for decades without a single symptom, only to be diagnosed with advanced throat cancer in his 50s.

This creates a profound ethical question about responsibility. In many relationships, the burden of sexual health – from contraception to cancer screening – falls solely on women. By refusing to acknowledge the role of men in the HPV transmission chain, we are forcing women to protect themselves from a virus that their partners are often supplying in ignorance.

To combat this, men, too, need to start taking the HPV vaccine. When a man chooses to get vaccinated, he is not only protecting his own body from genital warts or penile lesions, but also taking active responsibility for his partner’s life. He is ensuring that he does not become the vector that introduces a life-threatening virus into his household.

Breaking the Chain

Countries including Australia, the U.K., and the U.S.A. have already moved toward a gender-neutral vaccination strategy. Why? The answer lies in the mathematics of herd immunity.

If we only vaccinate girls, the virus continues to circulate freely among the male population. This creates a leaky system where unvaccinated women (who may have missed their shots or have weakened immune systems) remain highly vulnerable. However, when we vaccinate boys, we break the transmission chain. The virus finds fewer hosts to live in, leading to a much faster and more dramatic decline in cervical cancer cases among women.

In the U.K., the National Health Systemexpanded the HPV programme to include boys aged 12–13 in 2019. The logic was clear: if we want to eradicate HPV-related diseases, we cannot leave the male population out of the solution. Australia, an early adopter of this strategy, is now on track to become the first country in the world to effectively eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2035. This feat would be impossible without vaccinating their sons.

The window of prevention

The medical community identifies the ages nine to fourteen as the ‘golden window’. At this stage, the immune system is exceptionally responsive, producing higher levels of antibodies than in older teenagers. Giving the vaccine before a child is ever exposed to the virus provides a “cancer-proof vest” that lasts a lifetime.

For men who missed the school-based programme, the vaccine is still highly recommended up to age 26, and even up to 45 after consultation with a doctor. While it cannot cure an existing infection, it can protect against other strains of the virus that the individual has not yet encountered.

Preventing harm

Unlike the cervix, there is no routine screening for a man’s throat or reproductive organs. Throat cancer (oropharyngeal cancer) is notoriously difficult to detect in its early stages and often requires aggressive, life-altering surgery or radiation. In some developed nations, HPV-related throat cancer is now more prevalent in men than cervical cancer is in women.

By vaccinating boys, we prevent the “silent” development of cancerous tumours. We prevent the physical and psychological toll of recurrent genital warts. We prevent the tragedy of a father or husband facing a terminal diagnosis for a disease that could have been stopped by a simple injection in his youth.

Towards inclusive health

Cervical cancer is not just a “women’s issue”, and the HPV is certainly not a burden for only one gender to carry alone. As we move toward the government’s 2026 health targets, our pitch to the public must be inclusive — tell our boys that their health matters, and tell our men that they have the power to protect their families.

If we extend the protection to our sons, we will be finally closing the door on a virus that has taken far too many victims already.

(Dr. Rohit Raghunath Ranade is senior consultant, clinical lead – gynaecologic oncology, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru. rohitraghunath.ranade.dr@narayanahealth.org)