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. 2022 Jul 27;10(8):1187.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines10081187.

HPV-Vaccine Hesitancy in Colombia: A Mixed-Methods Study

Veronica Cordoba-Sanchez  1 , Mariantonia Lemos  2 , Diego Alfredo Tamayo-Lopera  1 , Sherri Sheinfeld Gorin  3
Affiliations

HPV-Vaccine Hesitancy in Colombia: A Mixed-Methods Study

Veronica Cordoba-Sanchez et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

In Colombia, the uptake rate of the HPV vaccine dropped from 96.7% after its introduction in 2013 to 9% in 2020. To identify the behavioural components of HPV-vaccine hesitancy in females aged 15 and under and their families, we conducted a convergent mixed-methods study in which 196 parents/caregivers responded to an online questionnaire and 10 focus groups were held with 13 of these parents/caregivers, and 50 age-eligible girls. The study is novel as it is the first to explore the factors influencing HPV-vaccine hesitancy alongside the COVID vaccine within an integrative model of behaviour change, the capability-opportunity-motivation-behaviour (COM-B) model. We found that COVID-19 has had an impact on the awareness of HPV and HPV vaccination. Lack of information about the vaccination programs, concerns about vaccine safety and the relationship between HPV and sexuality could be related to vaccine hesitancy. Trust in medical recommendations and campaigns focused on the idea that vaccination is a way of protecting daughters from cervical cancer could improve HPV vaccine uptake.

Keywords: cervical cancer; health behaviour; human papilloma virus; vaccination; vaccine hesitancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest and the funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Convergent mixed-methods design.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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