If you missed school HPV vaccination, Gardasil 9 still only covers strains you have not met

You missed the school HPV programme, a new partner has asked whether you were vaccinated, or a smear mentioned HPV and the vaccine now looks like the same visit as a swab or a wart clinic. Those are three different appointments. Adult HPV vaccination at Medical Express Clinic is a GP-led Gardasil 9 course that protects against strains you have not yet encountered. It does not treat an infection you already carry, and it does not remove visible warts.

Three appointments, not one HPV visit

Testing, vaccination and wart removal are three separate appointments.

This article is the vaccination visit. A typed HPV swab and consultant wart removal sit as related routes on their own pages. They are not bundled into the first dose.

The swab answers which strains you carry now. The vaccine answers which of nine types you want protection against later. Wart treatment answers what to do with lesions already on the skin. If you are unsure which diary you need, say whether you want a result, a course of injections, or treatment of something you can see.

Visit details from this clinic are not shared with your NHS GP unless you ask. You do not need an NHS referral to book.

What Gardasil 9 covers

Gardasil 9 is a prescription vaccine given as an injection into the arm. It targets HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58. Types 6 and 11 are the low-risk types most often linked to genital warts. Types 16 and 18, and the further high-risk types in that list, are tied to cervical cancer and to other HPV-related cancers of the anus, penis, vagina, vulva and throat.

The NHS HPV vaccination programme uses Gardasil 9. NHS.uk is plain that the vaccine reduces your chances of getting HPV, that some types are linked to certain cancers, and that HPV can also cause genital warts.

Protection is type-specific, and the nine strains are not every HPV type that exists, which is why NHS guidance is clear that a vaccinated person who is eligible for cervical screening should still attend. A course of injections is not a smear, and a smear is not a substitute for vaccination, including a private smear test.

What the vaccine does not do

The vaccine protects against strains you have not yet encountered. It does not treat current infection. If you already carry one of the types in the vaccine, that dose will not clear it. You may still be protected against the other types in the nine, which is why a previous positive result is not an automatic reason to skip the course.

It does not remove genital warts. NHS pages describe them as small, rough lumps around the vagina, penis or anus, usually caused by low-risk HPV, commonly types 6 and 11. Having warts does not make vaccination pointless, and it does not mean the injection will flatten what is already there.

It is neither a cancer treatment nor an all-clear. A vaccine lowers the chance of meeting the types it contains, but it does not certify that your cervix, anus or throat is free of disease today.

If you have a high temperature, or feel too unwell to do your usual activities, NHS advice is to wait until you are better. You cannot have the vaccine if you have had a serious allergic reaction to a previous dose or to an ingredient. If you are pregnant, the course is usually postponed until after the pregnancy. You can have it while breastfeeding.

Who this adult course is for

This clinic is a private GP-led course for adults who want Gardasil 9 outside that programme. The NHS offers HPV vaccination in school year 8, at age 12 to 13, to girls and boys. Boys were not always included: the school programme was extended to them from September 2019. Catch-up remains available for some young people under 25, and for men who have sex with men aged 45 and under at a sexual health or HIV clinic.

Many adults sit outside those lists, particularly men born before boys were included, and people who left school before the programme existed or missed the doses, with a sister HPV vaccination page. If you are still NHS-eligible, that public route is the usual place to start.

At this clinic the vaccine is available for males and females from age 9, with no upper age limit. Being older than the school cohort does not make the course useless, because HPV is acquired through skin-to-skin sexual contact across adult life. Older adults may already have met some types, so the benefit is smaller and varies from person to person. It also does not make the vaccine a treatment for something you already have.

The Harley Street vaccination visit

Adult HPV vaccination here is GP-led. Medical Express Clinic has practised at 117a Harley Street since 1984 and is CQC-registered. Dr Mohammad Bakhtiar, GMC 4694470, is a GP and the clinic's clinical lead. Gardasil 9 is a prescription vaccine, given after a clinician is satisfied it is appropriate.

The clinic's adult course is three doses over six months. The second dose is given two months after the first, and the third six months after the first. That is the schedule this service books. The NHS school and catch-up programme has its own dose rules by age and immune status. Do not copy a school leaflet onto this diary. If you are under 25, ask before booking; fewer doses may be needed.

Vaccination appointments are bookable seven days a week: weekdays 10:00 to 17:30, weekends 10:00 to 13:30. If you already started the course here and are due the second or third dose, or if you started elsewhere, call 020 7499 1991 before you book so the team can check the schedule.

Bring a record of previous HPV vaccination if you have one, including the vaccine name if it was not Gardasil 9, plus current medicines and any serious allergy. If a smear or an HPV swab result already exists, bring it, because it changes the conversation about what the vaccine can still do without turning this visit into a results clinic.

Common side effects are mild and short-lived: swelling or pain where the injection was given, a headache, a high temperature, dizziness, feeling sick and tiredness, as NHS.uk lists.

If you already carry HPV

A previous positive HPV result is information about strains already present, not a cancer diagnosis. The vaccine may still protect against other strains in the nine, although it will not treat the type you already have.

If what you want is a typed list of current strains, that is the swab, not this booking. The clinic's HPV swab tests 28 individually typed subtypes, with reflex mRNA for types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 45, and results are usually ready in 2 to 3 working days. A positive swab is not cancer. None of that work happens inside a vaccination slot.

New, severe or worsening symptoms belong with a GP or urgent assessment, not with a preventative injection. If you are severely unwell, that is 999 or A&E, not Harley Street.

Consultant genital wart removal is the treatment route when there are visible warts. At this clinic that treatment is hyfrecation with Dr Naoum on Fridays. It is not this booking. Cervical screening remains its own programme. Vaccination does not replace it.

Tips and tricks

• Decide which of the three HPV questions you are asking before you book.
• If you want protection against types you have not met, this is vaccination.
• If you want a typed list of current strains, that is the swab.
• If you can see lumps and want them treated, that is wart removal, not a dose of Gardasil 9.
• If you are still in an NHS-eligible group, use that route unless you have already decided you want a private course.
• Young people under 25 who missed school doses should speak to a school vaccination team or GP surgery.
• Men who have sex with men, up to 45, can ask at a sexual health or HIV clinic.
• Bring any previous vaccine record and any HPV result you already hold.
• Book the second and third doses into the six-month course when you start, because three doses over six months only work if the later visits happen.
• Weekday slots run 10:00 to 17:30 and weekend slots 10:00 to 13:30.
• If you are eligible for cervical screening, keep attending after vaccination.

Things to avoid

• Do not treat Gardasil 9 as a cure for HPV you already carry, and do not treat a previous positive result as proof that vaccination is pointless.
• Do not book a swab because you wanted an injection, and do not book an injection because you wanted warts treated.
• Do not skip cervical screening because you have been vaccinated.
• Do not arrive with a high temperature and expect the dose to go ahead.
• Do not assume a school leaflet's dose count is the schedule this clinic books.
• Do not use a vaccination slot as a stand-in for 999 if you are severely unwell.
• Do not expect the visit to appear on your NHS GP record unless you have asked for that.

If you do want the adult Gardasil 9 course, the details sit on the HPV vaccine page, or you can contact the clinic on 020 7499 1991.

Related guides: genital warts treatment choices and STI window periods and when to test.