From Sept. 1, eighth-grade boys, as well as girls, are to be eligible for free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, the Taipei City Government said yesterday.
The Taipei Department of Health in December last year announced a plan to expand vaccine eligibility to boys this year.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday announced the launch of the program.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Medical studies have found that about 80 percent of sexually active men and women would contract HPV at least once in their lifetime, Chiang said, adding that HPV increases the risk of cervical cancer in women, and head and neck cancers in men.
The WHO suggests girls under the age of 15 should be the primary targets for HPV vaccination, while boys are secondary targets, he said.
The city government increased the budget to include junior-high school boys, with vaccines available on campus, Chiang said.
Boys who enrolled in the city’s junior-high schools in the 2023 school year would be covered, and approximately 10,000 of them are to benefit from the policy, the health department said.
While women can undergo regular pap smears for early detection and treatment of cervical cancer, most men are asymptomatic if they have HPV and do not receive regular screenings, so getting the vaccine is the best prevention method, National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) vice superintendent Lou Pei-jen (婁培人) said.
Aside from an increased risk of developing certain cancers, HPV can also cause genital warts, which are not life-threatening, but might cause psychological distress, NTUH pediatrician Lee Ping-ing (李秉穎) said.
The health department plans to invite experts to hold lectures at the city’s junior-high schools starting this month, to increase students’ awareness and willingness to get vaccinated, and work with schools to provide informational leaflets and consent forms for parents before vaccination begins, department Commissioner Chen Yen-yuan (陳彥元) said.
Students who are unable to get the shots when vaccination stations are set up at their schools can bring a letter to contracted hospitals in the city to receive one later, he added.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RSS