This expansion is necessary both to protect them against certain types of cancer and ultimately, to hope to completely eliminate these diseases, writes AFP.

In France, HPV vaccination has been recommended for girls aged 11 to 14 since 2007 and for boys of the same age since 2021.

A free and widespread vaccination program for fifth-year high school students will begin on the 2nd of October in certain regions. This will be preceded by a vaccination communication campaign starting on Monday.

Every year in France, HPV, short for human papillomavirus, is responsible for over 6,000 new cases of cancer, most often of the cervix, which causes 1,100 deaths per year, as well as vulvar or vaginal cancer, but also cancers of the ENT sphere, of the anus or penis.

A recent study published in The Lancet showed that at some point, 31% of men over the age of 15 are infected with an HPV-type virus. More importantly, one in five men (21%) carries an oncogenic HPV, meaning potentially cancerous.

Although the most affected men are aged between 25 and 29 (35%), all sexually active men are "a major source of genital HPV infections", the study continues.

"This Lancet meta-analysis confirms empirical and theoretical elements: HPV is found everywhere and is highly transmissible", said Emmanuel Ricard, spokesperson for Ligue contre le cancer and public health physician, speaking to AFP.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cited in The Lancet, approximately 69,400 cases of HPV-caused cancer in men were reported worldwide in 2018.

The first obvious benefit of vaccinating boys is that the injection directly protects them against cancers and warts in the anogenital area (penis and anus), for which the vaccine's effectiveness has already been established.

Another expected benefit is "a likely protection against HPV-induced ENT cancers, which are more common in men", said Judith Mueller, an epidemiologist, professor at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP) and researcher at the Pasteur Institute, speaking to AFP.

Vaccinating young boys, future sexual partners and wives should also reduce the risk of transmitting these viruses.

In practical terms, "gender-neutral vaccination recommendations will be easier to promote", says researcher Judith Mueller: "Communication no longer has to be directed only at girls, but at young people".

According to the researcher, vaccinating boys is all the more important as the current coverage "is not yet optimal". By the end of 2022, 48% of girls and 13% of 15-year-old boys had received at least one dose of the vaccine.