Plummeting uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine at schools has left tens of thousands of children across Yorkshire and the North East at risk of deadly cancers and dangerous diseases, says the Oral Health Foundation.

Latest figures from 2020/21 show 147,337 schoolchildren in the region went without a single dose of the HPV vaccine, leaving them completely unprotected against mouth, cervical, anal, and penile cancers.

The UK currently runs a two-dose HPV vaccination programme for all schoolchildren. Two-dose HPV vaccination for children in Yorkshire and the North East has plummeted by 23% compared with pre-pandemic levels – leaving 317,581 at greater risk.

School closures and home learning throughout the pandemic, in addition to increasing numbers of children being off school in isolation, have led to severe disruption for the vaccine programme.

Chief Executive of the Oral Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, believes the decline in uptake of the vaccine is extremely concerning and calls for NHS trusts across the UK to get the HPV programme back on track.

Dr Carter says: “HPV is a leading cause of mouth cancer, which claims the lives of eight people every day and having the vaccination is the best form of protection against it. 

“We must not allow these children to slip through the gaps.  It is now the responsibility of all local school immunisation teams to make sure children who missed the vaccine during the pandemic are allowed to receive it. Likewise, provisions must be in place to meet the needs of this year’s batch of children who are eligible for the vaccine.”

Want Bradford’s top stories delivered straight to your inbox each morning? Sign up to our newsletter to get our daily bulletin.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

Have you got a story for us? Email newsdesk@telegraphandargus.co.uk or contact us here or call us on 01274 705292.