Opinions of parents about school-entry mandates for the human papillomavirus vaccine

Abstract

Objective: To determine parents' opinions about school-entry mandates for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

Materials and methods: During the summer of 2008, 325 parents, with children 9 to 17 years old, completed a 53-question survey that evaluated their opinions about vaccines, HPV and the HPV vaccine, and mandatory childhood vaccination programs. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all survey items.

Results: Although 89% of parents supported mandatory vaccination programs in general, only 43% thought that the HPV vaccine should be included. The main reasons for nonsupport included that it would infringe on their rights (57%), that the vaccine had not been well studied (33%), and that it had too many adverse effects (29%). Of all parents, 13% said their children had already received the HPV vaccine and 81% wanted their children to receive it.

Conclusions: At this point, although most parents want their children to receive the HPV vaccine, most do not support it being mandated. The provision of more safety data to parents should help improve overall HPV vaccination rates.