SOUTH Pembrokeshire AM Angela Burns is calling on the Welsh Government to end the availability of free painkillers on the NHS to free up cash for a cancer-fighting vaccine for boys.

Girls aged 12-13 and gay men aged 16-45 are vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) with a drug injection called Gardasil.

HPV is primarily known to cause cervical cancer but can also cause a range of cancer types by affecting the throat, head and neck, as well as vaginal and penile cancers.

According to Dr Mererid Evans, consultant clinical oncologist at Velindre Hospital in Cardiff, rates of oropharyngeal (head, neck, tonsils, tongue and throat) cancer have trebled in Wales over the past 15 years, and she points to a link between these instances and HPV.

It was against this evidence that the Welsh Government decided last month not to extend the HPV vaccine to boys, after the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) made an interim ruling against such a move – a decision which was roundly criticised by Welsh Conservatives and campaigners.

Now Mrs Burns, Shadow Health Secretary, is proposing that painkillers – which can be bought for mere pennies on the high street – stop being made freely available on the NHS, so that the spare cash can be re-directed at rolling out the HPV vaccine to boys.

Analysis of NHS Wales data conducted by the Welsh Conservatives estimates that if paracetamol, aspirin, ibuprofen and Co-Codomol were removed from the Welsh NHS’ list of free medicines then it would make a saving of £16,203,577 annually.

This saving would be more than enough to subsidise the vaccination of Wales’ 36,764 12 to 13-year-old boys (census), which if multiplied by the vaccine’s high street cost of £300 would at the very most cost the NHS an estimated £11,029,200.

Angela Burns AM said: “The Welsh Government is demonstrating dangerously misplaced priorities by continuing to throw away millions on very affordable pain medication while denying young boys a lifetime of protection from a cancer-causing virus.

“By re-diverting this money to fund an extended vaccination programme, the Welsh Government will potentially save themselves tens of millions on future cancer care costs, which we know have risen 16% over a six-year period.

“Labour Ministers have a moral duty to ensure equality of protection for all, and to be responsible custodians of public money - but sadly are falling far short of these principles. Cost should not be a barrier to good health and steps must be taken to redress this imbalance.”