{"id":24585,"date":"2025-03-25T00:34:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T01:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24585"},"modified":"2025-03-25T02:26:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T02:26:44","slug":"doctors-and-charities-call-for-gonorrhoea-vaccine-roll-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24585","title":{"rendered":"Doctors and charities call for gonorrhoea vaccine roll-out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-component=\"byline-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<div data-testid=\"byline-new\" class=\"sc-b42e7a8f-0 haItSe\">\n<div class=\"sc-b42e7a8f-1 cjDa-dM\">51 minutes ago<\/p>\n<p><!--$!--><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Share\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 oYtVL dRvUPz dXDmtS\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Share<\/span><\/button><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Save\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 iQJDhl cCYQUA kItbpD\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Save<\/span><\/button><!--\/$--><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"byline-new-contributors\" class=\"sc-b42e7a8f-12 fcCDwR\">\n<div class=\"sc-b42e7a8f-5 evAEAB\">\n<div><span class=\"sc-b42e7a8f-7 kItaYD\">Andrew Rogers<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>BBC Newsbeat<!-- --><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--$!--><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Share\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 oYtVL dRvUPz dXDmtS\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Share<\/span><\/button><button disabled type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Save\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-2 sc-48d6da7e-5 sc-48d6da7e-6 iQJDhl cCYQUA kItbpD\"><span data-testid=\"button-icon-wrapper\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-0 dMpdqo\"><\/span><span data-testid=\"button-text\" aria-hidden=\"false\" class=\"sc-48d6da7e-1 eihkAj\">Save<\/span><\/button><!--\/$--><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 ejjhCR\">\n<div data-testid=\"hero-image\" class=\"sc-a34861b-1 jxzoZC\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/6e352350-04c5-11f0-8acd-09ec89d7a0aa.jpg.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"BBC A man with dark brown hair and a beard sits on a sofa smiling at the camera. He&#039;s wearing a checked beige shirt over a white vest and has tattoos\" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 efFcac\" \/><span class=\"sc-a34861b-2 hesJxn\">BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Max was in the shower when he got a call few would want. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;My phone is connected to a speaker in the shower. That goes off, and I&#8217;m like: &#8216;Oh no&#8217;,&#8221; he says.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">He was told he&#8217;d tested positive for gonorrhoea.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">His was one of more than 85,000 cases in England last year &#8211; the highest level ever recorded. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Numbers are similarly high across the rest of the UK and have more than doubled over the last decade. Catching gonorrhoea once doesn&#8217;t stop you from getting it again.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;I went from having no STIs in my life, to having three or four in the space of three months. It was ridiculous,&#8221; Max tells BBC Newsbeat.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Gonorrhoea is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the UK.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Many, like Max, show no symptoms but it can cause pain in the joints and genitals, coloured discharge and problems getting pregnant. Using a condom during sex is usually said to be the best way of reducing the risk of catching it, but doesn&#8217;t eliminate it entirely.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">It can be treated with a single injection of antibiotics, although<!-- --><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/ceq5j784n7go\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 beIoQm\"> a small number of treatment-resitant cases<!-- --><\/a> have been found in the UK.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"sc-518485e5-0 DkKTF\">&#8216;Let&#8217;s get it done&#8217;<!-- --><\/h2>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">In November 2023, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended a targeted roll-out of the MenB vaccine. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Primarily designed to tackle Meningitis B in children, the JCVI found the treatment was roughly 40% effective at preventing people from contracting and spreading gonorrhoea.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The body, which considers whether different immunisations should be offered on the NHS, said it would be cost-effective if given to people who are most at risk of catching gonorrhoea.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">That includes gay and bisexual men and people who have had an STI in the past.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The JCVI said the money saved from fewer appointments and antibiotic treatments would be greater than the cost of the vaccines.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Prof Matt Phillips, president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), tells BBC Newsbeat it&#8217;s &#8220;pushing for this to happen as soon as possible&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;If we don&#8217;t deal with it now, we&#8217;re going to see more people with serious types of gonorrhoea and more cases of antibiotic resistance,&#8221; he says.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;The science says we should do this, the JCVI says we should do this. Let&#8217;s get it done.&#8221;<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Other charities working in sexual health tell BBC Newsbeat they agree, including the Terrence Higgins Trust which says &#8220;it&#8217;s time to put money where it needs to be. The time is now&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care says &#8220;we want everyone to have good access to sexual health services and treatment. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;We&#8217;re currently considering the JCVI advice and we will update in due course.&#8221;<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">They also added: &#8220;Last month we announced a boost of almost \u00a3200m to the public health grant, which funds sexual health clinics across the country&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"sc-518485e5-0 DkKTF\">&#8216;There&#8217;s a lot of shame around it&#8217;<!-- --><\/h2>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Max, who creates educational online content on sexual health and wellbeing aimed at gay and bisexual men, says he would &#8220;absolutely&#8221; take the vaccine if he was offered it. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">He shared his own gonnorhoea diagnosis online and believes we should be more open about discussing STIs to reduce the stigma around them.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of shame around it,&#8221; he says. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;People think it&#8217;s dirty. I felt like talking about it online not only normalised getting tested and having the treatment, but also took away the shame.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;Even if you&#8217;re doing everything right, you can still get an STI&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">The latest data on STIs shows under-25s, black men and gay and bisexual men are most likely to catch gonnorhoea. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Max says he&#8217;s often had to work harder to get information on sexual health which he didn&#8217;t get in school. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;I think as queer people we have to go out of our way to get the information,&#8221; he says.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;It&#8217;s not something we&#8217;re actively taught&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"sc-518485e5-0 DkKTF\">&#8216;I&#8217;ve gotten gonorrhoea repeatedly&#8217;<!-- --><\/h2>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">One of the organisations looking to change that is The Love Tank, based in London. It campaigns on sexual health and other areas of wellness for LGBT+ people, including drug abuse and mental health.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">It told BBC Newsbeat it also supports the campaign to have the MenB vaccine offered on the NHS.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;Sexual health services are already massively underfunded and understaffed&#8221;, says project co-ordinator Phil Samba.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;I feel like we should all be talking about sexual health,&#8221; he says. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;It should be as normalised as going to the dentist&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">He also says he&#8217;s noticed more people he knows testing positive for gonorrhoea, and says he&#8217;s caught it himself &#8220;repeatedly&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 jFCfG\">\n<div data-testid=\"image\" class=\"sc-a34861b-1 jxzoZC\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 cOpVbP hide-when-no-script\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2aa40d10-04c8-11f0-9d42-fd1949512f9c.jpg.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 efFcac\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Phil and The Love Tank also campaign for a wider use of Doxy-PEP, where the antibiotic doxycycline is taken in advance of sex to prevent some sexually transmitted bacterial infections being caught. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Neither Doxy-PEP nor the MenB vaccine are currently offered for free on the NHS in sexual health clinics, but can be bought through online pharmacies. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Both Boots and Superdrug offer private vaccination on the High Street for \u00a3110 per dose.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Phil thinks it&#8217;s important, though, that MenB is available to anyone who needs it, and says funding for drugs like PrEP to prevent HIV, and vaccines for mpox &#8211; formerly referred to as monkeypox &#8211; have come too late.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;We have not learned from the past,&#8221; says Phil. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">&#8220;We need to learn from mistakes and try to provide people with resources, vaccines and medications. Surely we should be taking care of people&#8217;s health&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div data-component=\"image-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 gfTVSf\">\n<div data-testid=\"image\" class=\"sc-a34861b-1 jxzoZC\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 cOpVbP hide-when-no-script\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/7571\/live\/e540b040-08da-11f0-88b7-5556e7b55c5e.jpg.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"sc-a34861b-0 efFcac\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\" class=\"sc-18fde0d6-0 dlWCEZ\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fezwLZ\">Listen to Newsbeat <!-- --><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/play\/live:bbc_radio_one\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 beIoQm\">live<!-- --><\/a> at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays &#8211; or listen back <!-- --><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b006wkry\/episodes\/player\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 beIoQm\">here<!-- --><\/a>.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>51 minutes ago<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24585"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24590,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24585\/revisions\/24590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}