Exploring reasons for non-vaccination against human papillomavirus in Italy

BACKGROUND: In Italy, free-of-charge HPV vaccination is offered to 11-year-old girls since 2007. The National Immunization Plan established the target coverage at a minimum of 70%; it should increase to 95% within 3-year time frame. In 2012, four year after the introduction of HPV vaccination, coverage was stable at 69%. We conducted a national cross-sectional study to explore barriers to vaccination in Italy. METHODS: Vaccination services selected, through the immunization registries, a sample of unvaccinated girls born in 1997 or 1998 and posted to their families a 23-items questionnaire inquiring barriers to vaccination, HPV knowledge, source of information on HPV, perception of risk of contracting HPV, advice from consulted health professionals on HPV vaccination. RESULTS: We analysed 1,738 questionnaires. Main barriers were fear of adverse events (reported by 80% of families), lack of trust in a new vaccine (76%), discordant information received by health professionals (65%) and scarce information on HPV vaccination (54%). Overall, 54% of families replied correctly to more than half of 10 questions exploring knowledge on HPV vaccination. Families with a high knowledge score were more likely to live in Northern and Central Italy, be Italian, have a high educational level, include a mother who attended cervical screening regularly and consult more information sources. Although paediatricians/general practitioners and gynaecologists were considered the most trusted source of information by 79% and 61% of respondents, they were consulted only by 49% and 31%. Among parents who discussed vaccination with a physician, 28% received discordant advices and 31% received the recommendation of accepting vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Fear of adverse events, discordance of information and advices from physicians, and scarce information were the more commonly reported barriers to HPV vaccination. Health professionals played a key role as information providers, thus they must be better trained to provide clear notions. Training needs to include the development of communication skills; transparent discussion about the pros and cons of vaccination may reduce fear of adverse events and increase trust in vaccination. The creation of a public health network around vaccination would allow sharing information and attitudes on vaccinations, so that homogeneous messages could reach the target population. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-014-0545-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Effects of a Presidential Candidate's Comments on HPV Vaccine

BACKGROUND: During and after the 2011 Republican presidential debate, a candidate questioned the safety of HPV vaccine. We sought to determine what effect these comments had on parents. METHODS: A national sample of 327 parents with adolescent sons ages 11–17 completed online surveys in fall 2010 (baseline, about a year before the debate) and 2011 (follow-up, about a month after the debate). We used regression models to examine the association of parents’ awareness of the candidate’s comments with HPV vaccine initiation among their sons, their willingness to get sons free HPV vaccine, and their beliefs about potential harms of HPV vaccine. RESULTS: Overall, 17% of parents reported hearing about the Republican presidential candidate’s comments about HPV vaccine. Parents who were aware of the comments had a larger increase between baseline and follow-up in the belief that HPV vaccine might cause short-term health problems (mean change=0.47) compared to parents who were not aware (mean change=0.07, p<0.001). Awareness was not associated with HPV vaccine initiation among parents’ adolescent sons, changes in parents’ willingness to get their sons free HPV vaccine, or other outcomes (all p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Although the candidate’s comments may have increased some parents’ beliefs about the short-term harms of HPV vaccine, the comments had no impact on other beliefs, willingness to vaccinate, or behavior. Having accurate information about HPV vaccine that is readily available to the public during such controversies may diminish their impact