Influences of sociodemographic characteristics and parental HPV vaccination hesitancy on HPV vaccination coverage in five US states

BACKGROUND

In the United States (US), half of new human papillomavirus (HPV) infections occur among young people aged 15-24 years. Despite the effectiveness of HPV vaccination in protecting against HPV-associated cancers, its coverage among adolescents remains suboptimal. This study examined the association of sociodemographic characteristics and HPV vaccination hesitancy with HPV vaccination coverage in five US states with disproportionately low adolescent coverage rates compared to the national average.

METHODS

Responses to an online Qualtrics survey from 926 parents of children aged 9-17 years in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Southern Illinois in July 2021 were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression to estimate the association of sociodemographic characteristics and HPV vaccination hesitancy with HPV vaccination coverage.

RESULTS

Of the parents, 78 % were female, 76 % were non-Hispanic White, 61.9 % lived in rural areas, 22 % were classified as HPV vaccine hesitant, and 42 % had vaccinated their oldest child between the ages of 9-17 years against HPV. Children of vaccine hesitant parents were less likely to have received any doses of the HPV vaccine than children of non-vaccine hesitant parents (AOR: 0.17, 95 % CI:0.11-0.27). Male children were less likely to have initiated the HPV vaccine series than female children (AOR: 0.70, 95 % CI:0.50-0.97). Older children (13-17 vs 9-12 years), receiving the meningococcal conjugate or most recent seasonal influenza vaccine were all associated with higher likelihoods of receiving any doses of the HPV vaccine (AOR: 6.01, 95 % CI:3.98-9.08; AOR: 2.24, 95 % CI:1.27-3.95; AOR: 2.41, 95 % CI:1.73-3.36, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescent HPV vaccination coverage remains low in our targeted states. Children's age, sex, and parental vaccine hesitancy were significantly associated with likelihood of HPV vaccination. These findings offer the opportunity for targeted interventions among parents in regions with low vaccine uptake and underscore the importance of developing and implementing strategies to address parental HPV vaccination hesitancy to improve uptake in the US.