- Open 7 Days a Week
- +44 1206 322109
- Dedham Pharmacy, High Street, Dedham
Private HPV vaccination at Dedham Pharmacy, open to teenagers and adults across Colchester.
Gardasil 9, the same vaccine used by the NHS
Pharmacist consultation included in the price
Same-day appointments and walk-ins
No GP referral or registration needed
Private HPV Vaccination
Human papillomavirus is not one virus. It is a family of more than 100 related viruses, and around 40 of them affect the genital area, mouth and throat.
Most people catch at least one type during their lives. In the majority of cases the immune system clears the infection within about two years and nothing ever comes of it.
The problem is persistence. When a high-risk type such as HPV 16 or 18 stays in the body for years, it can slowly change the cells it infects.
Those cell changes are what eventually become cancer, usually a decade or more after the original infection. Low-risk types behave differently and cause genital warts instead.
HPV passes through skin-to-skin contact of the genital area. Penetrative sex is not required, so condoms lower the risk without removing it.
You can pick it up through vaginal, anal or oral sex, from close genital contact, and from sharing sex toys that have not been washed or covered.
Almost nobody knows they have it. HPV causes no symptoms in most people, which is why it spreads so easily between partners who both feel perfectly well.
Nearly all cervical cancer, around 99.7% of cases, follows infection with a high-risk HPV type. Remove the infection, and you remove almost all of the disease.
The UK data on this is strong. Research published in The Lancet found cervical cancer rates were 87% lower in women who were offered the vaccine at age 12 or 13.
A Scottish study published in 2024 went further and found no cervical cancer cases at all among women vaccinated at age 12 or 13 when followed into their early thirties.
Vaccination also cut genital warts diagnoses sharply in young adults after the programme began in 2008. Protection is strongest before any exposure to HPV, but it is not all or nothing.
If you have already met one type, the vaccine still protects you against the other eight it covers. That is the practical reason adults in their twenties, thirties and early forties still come to us for it.
Who it suits
The vaccine suits most people aged nine and over. We see a lot of adults who missed the school programme, plus people starting new relationships and those whose partner has had an HPV diagnosis.
Men benefit as much as women. HPV causes anal, penile and throat cancers in men, and there is no screening programme for any of them.
Gay and bisexual men get very little indirect protection from the female school programme, which is why the NHS funds them separately up to age 45.
People with a weakened immune system, including anyone living with HIV, clear HPV less easily and are usually advised to have three doses.
The vaccine is also worth discussing if you have been treated for abnormal cervical cells, as evidence suggests it lowers the chance of those changes returning.
When to avoid or delay
You should not have the vaccine, or should delay it, if any of these apply:
Breastfeeding is not a reason to delay. Tell our pharmacist if you take blood thinners or have a bleeding disorder, as we will adjust how we give the injection.
Not everyone needs to pay. Since September 2023, the routine NHS adolescent programme in England offers a single dose, which the NHS considers fully vaccinated for that group. Check this list first, and if you qualify, we will tell you where to go rather than charge you.
We use Gardasil 9, the same vaccine the NHS uses in schools. It covers nine HPV types: 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58.
Types 16 and 18 alone cause around 70% of cervical cancers. Adding the other five high-risk types takes coverage to roughly 90% of cases.
Types 6 and 11 are responsible for about 90% of genital warts, so the vaccine works on both fronts.
Gardasil 9 contains no live virus and cannot give you HPV. It carries protein shells that look like the virus to your immune system, which then makes antibodies ready for the real thing.
Each dose costs £160, and that includes the pharmacist consultation. A two-dose course comes to £320 and a three-dose course comes to £480.
Compared to waiting weeks on an NHS referral, private ear wax removal in Colchester at Dedham Pharmacy is fast and affordable.
While the NHS operates a single-dose policy for its routine adolescent programme, private vaccination follows the manufacturer’s full licensed Gardasil 9 schedule. Your age at the first dose sets the schedule, which is why we confirm it before booking your follow-up.
Book online through our booking system or phone the pharmacy on 01206 322109. Walk-ins are welcome when the clinic diary allows.
We will ask your age and whether you have had any HPV doses before, so we can plan the right schedule from the start.
Our pharmacist goes through your medical history, allergies, current medicines and whether you might be pregnant. This takes a few minutes.
It is the point to raise anything you are unsure about, including previous doses from another country or a partial course you never finished.
The injection goes into your upper arm. Most people describe it as a sharp scratch and a dull ache afterwards.
We ask you to stay for 15 minutes so we can keep an eye on you, then we book your next dose and note it on your vaccination record.
Side effects are usually mild and settle within a day or two. The arm is the main complaint.
Common reactions include soreness, redness or swelling where the needle went in, headache, tiredness, mild fever, nausea and aching muscles.
Feeling faint straight after the injection happens more often with teenagers than adults. That is why we keep everyone seated for 15 minutes.
Serious allergic reactions are very rare. Our pharmacists are trained to manage anaphylaxis and we carry adrenaline on site.
Paracetamol or ibuprofen will handle a sore arm. Contact us or call 111 if anything feels wrong or lasts longer than a couple of days.
Around 3,300 UK cases each year, almost all caused by high-risk HPV. The vaccine targets the types behind roughly nine in ten of them.
Caused mainly by HPV types 6 and 11. Uncomfortable, often recurrent, and treatable but persistent, which makes prevention far easier than management.
Strongly linked to HPV 16, with higher rates in men who have sex with men and in people living with HIV.
HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer is rising in UK men and now outnumbers cervical cancer cases in some age groups.
Less common than cervical cancer, but a meaningful share of cases carry high-risk HPV types covered by Gardasil 9.
Rare in the UK, with around half of cases connected to HPV infection, usually type 16.
The abnormal cervical, anal and vulval cells picked up by screening, which often need treatment before they progress.
Follow-up studies have tracked vaccinated people for more than a decade and found antibody levels holding steady, with no sign of protection fading.
Protection has held steady in studies running more than a decade, and no booster is recommended in the UK. Longer-term data is still being collected.
One thing the vaccine does not replace is cervical screening. Gardasil 9 does not cover every cancer-causing HPV type, so smear tests still matter from age 25.
We are a community pharmacy located at High St, Dedham, Colchester CO7 6DE, not a booking platform. The pharmacist who assesses you also gives the vaccine.
We stock Gardasil 9, covering nine HPV types. There is no cheaper, weaker version on our shelf.
Same-day and walk-in appointments are usually available, which matters when you want the course started rather than diarised.
£160 a dose, consultation included, paid as you go. You will not be charged for advice if the vaccine is not right for you.
We record your doses and book the next one before you leave, so a three-dose schedule does not quietly drift into an unfinished one.
Free parking outside, five minutes from the A12, and closer than Colchester town centre for anyone in the Stour Valley villages.
Mandeep Sandhu is the superintendent pharmacist and owner of Dedham Pharmacy, registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council under registration number 2064849.
With over a decade of experience in community pharmacy practice, Mandeep leads the clinical services at Dedham including the travel health clinic, weight management programme, and private consultation services.
Great having a pharmacy that is open late and during weekends. Quick and efficient, great service.
I see they were also offering a flu jab service, if that’s something you need.
Great having a pharmacy that is open late and during weekends. Quick and efficient, great service.
I see they were also offering a flu jab service, if that’s something you need.
Great having a pharmacy that is open late and during weekends. Quick and efficient, great service.
I see they were also offering a flu jab service, if that’s something you need.
Yes. You are unlikely to have met all nine types, so the vaccine still protects against the rest. It will not treat an existing infection.
No. HPV testing is not recommended before vaccination and would not change our advice, since the vaccine covers nine types rather than one.
There is little trial data above 45, so we assess it case by case. Benefit depends on your exposure history and current relationships.
Yes. Gardasil 9 can be given at the same appointment as travel or flu vaccines, using a separate injection site on the other arm.
Bring your record and we will continue it. Doses given abroad or at another clinic count, so you rarely need to start again from the beginning.
