HIV & sexual health
Vaccines that protect against STIs
Several sexually transmitted infections are vaccine-preventable. Whether you pay depends on who you are, and the rules are not obvious.
Hepatitis A and hepatitis B
Both are vaccine-preventable and both are sexually transmissible. Hepatitis B in particular can become a lifelong infection, and vaccination is the reason it has become far less common in people who were vaccinated at school.
Ontario funds hepatitis B through the school program, and funds both vaccines for people in defined higher-risk groups — which includes men who have sex with men, people who use drugs, people living with HIV, and household or sexual contacts of someone infected.
If you were vaccinated at school you may already be covered for life. A blood test can confirm it, and testing is usually cheaper and quicker than repeating a series.
HPV
HPV causes cervical, anal, penile and throat cancers as well as genital warts, and the vaccine prevents the types responsible for most of them. It gives the most protection before exposure, which is why it is given in school — but it is still worth having later, and “too late for it to help” is usually wrong.
Who gets it free in Ontario
Funded: the Grade 7 school program, with catch-up available through school age; men who have sex with men up to a defined age; and people living with HIV.
Not funded: most adults outside those groups, who pay for the series. That surprises people and it is worth knowing before booking rather than after. We will tell you the cost up front, and it is still frequently worth it.
Mpox
Mpox vaccination in Toronto is distributed through Toronto Public Health and its partner sites rather than through general practice, so this is a referral rather than something we hold.
We will tell you where it is actually available and who currently qualifies, rather than imply we can give it here. Eligibility has changed more than once and it is worth checking the current position rather than a page.
What no vaccine covers
There is no vaccine for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis or herpes. For HIV the preventive tool is PrEP; for the bacterial infections it is regular testing and treatment, and in some circumstances doxyPEP.
Routine and catch-up vaccination, including everything not related to sexual health.
All immunizations →Common questions
I don’t know if I was vaccinated as a child.
Common, and testable. For hepatitis B a blood test shows whether you are immune. For several others, repeating a dose is harmless if it turns out you had it.
Am I too old for the HPV vaccine?
Probably not in the sense you mean. It gives the most protection before exposure, but exposure is not all-or-nothing — there are several types and you are unlikely to have met all of them. Worth an actual conversation rather than an assumption.
Do I have to explain my sex life to qualify?
Eligibility for some publicly funded vaccines genuinely does depend on circumstances, so there is a question involved. It is asked matter-of-factly, the answer goes in your record like any other clinical fact, and it exists to get you something for free rather than to gatekeep.