Cancer HorizonsAll NewsBlogsCaregivingDiet and ExerciseFinancialPsychosocialRecipesSexual HealthSide EffectSponsoredSurvivorship
All VideosCURE ConnectionsCURE Expert Connections®CURE Speaking OutCURE TVEducated Patient Sound BitesOn Demand: Webinars
Conference Coverage Conference Listing
CURE AdventuresCURE AwardsEducated Patient In Person EducationEducated Patient Virtual Education
Advocacy GroupsArt GalleryClinical Trial CornerHeal®PartnersPodcastsPublicationsShare Your Story
Subscribe
Blood CancersBlood CancersBlood CancersBlood CancersBlood Cancers
Brain Cancer
Breast CancerBreast Cancer
Childhood Cancers
Gastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal Cancers
Genitourinary CancersGenitourinary CancersGenitourinary CancersGenitourinary CancersGenitourinary Cancers
Gynecologic CancerGynecologic CancerGynecologic CancerGynecologic CancerGynecologic Cancer
Head & Neck Cancer
Immunotherapy
LeukemiaLeukemiaLeukemia
Lung CancerLung Cancer
LymphomaLymphomaLymphomaLymphomaLymphoma
Rare CancersRare CancersRare CancersRare Cancers
Sarcoma
Skin Cancer/MelanomaSkin Cancer/Melanoma
Thyroid Cancer
Spotlight -
  • Blogs
  • Breast Cancer Webinar Series
  • Cancer Horizons
  • Clinical Trial Corner
  • Heal®
  • Publications
  • Videos
Blood CancersBlood CancersBlood CancersBlood CancersBlood Cancers
Brain Cancer
Breast CancerBreast Cancer
Childhood Cancers
Gastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal CancersGastrointestinal Cancers
Genitourinary CancersGenitourinary CancersGenitourinary CancersGenitourinary CancersGenitourinary Cancers
Gynecologic CancerGynecologic CancerGynecologic CancerGynecologic CancerGynecologic Cancer
Head & Neck Cancer
Immunotherapy
LeukemiaLeukemiaLeukemia
Lung CancerLung Cancer
LymphomaLymphomaLymphomaLymphomaLymphoma
Rare CancersRare CancersRare CancersRare Cancers
Sarcoma
Skin Cancer/MelanomaSkin Cancer/Melanoma
Thyroid Cancer
    • Subscribe
Advertisement

Article

March 13, 2017

Declining Concern about HPV Vaccine and Sexual Activity

Conference|SGO Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer

Concern about vaccine safety and perceived lack of necessity remain the main reasons parents give for not having their teenage daughter vaccinated against HPV.

Lack of knowledge and provider recommendation replaced parental concern about their daughters’ lack of sexual activity among key factors behind continued slow uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, according to a study presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology 48th Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland.

In 2010 the third most common reason parents gave for not vaccinating their teenager was lack of sexual activity, but in 2014, that concern dropped to the bottom of the 5 most commonly cited reasons for failure to vaccinate. During the same time period, lack of knowledge about vaccine and lack of healthcare provider recommendation moved from the bottom of the list to the middle.

Concern about vaccine safety and perceived lack of necessity topped the list at both points in time, reported Anna Beavis, M.D., a gynecologic oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

“Our results demonstrate that safety and perceived lack of necessity, as well as lack of knowledge, make up 50 percent of the reason why parents don’t initiate HPV vaccination,” said Beavis. “The results also demonstrate that concern about the vaccine and its connection with sexual activity are less important to parents and that these concerns decreased over time.

“Healthcare providers should not feel dissuaded from recommending HPV vaccine simply because they feel the parents don’t want to discuss sexual activity,” she added.

Preliminary analysis of data from the 2015 survey showed that failure to vaccinate was associated with white race, younger age and socioeconomic status above the poverty level. An HPV message targeted to those demographic characteristics is needed, said Beavis.

Given the strong association between cervical cancer and HPV infection, universal uptake of the nine-valent HPV vaccine could prevent 90 percent of all cervical cancer. Despite HPV vaccines’ demonstrated efficacy for preventing infection rate, uptake in the United States has lagged behind other Western nations.

In 2007, the first full year after HPV vaccine was introduced in the U.S., 12 percent of adolescent girls were vaccinated. By 2014, the rate had increased to about 60 percent, still well below the 80 percent target established in the Healthy People 2020 initiative. In contrast, HPV vaccination rates in Australia, which has a school-based vaccination program, have exceeded 80 percent since 2007, said Beavis.

Explanations for the low uptake rate in the U.S. remain incomplete. Physician recommendation has a strong influence of vaccination rates, but recommendation rates vary by specialty, geography and other factors. Access to health care also affects uptake. Previous studies have shown that providers who have low rates of recommendation feel the need to discuss sexual activity with parents before recommending the vaccine for a child, which has contributed to the low uptake.

Studies of parental attitudes toward HPV vaccine have yielded conflicting results. Whether attitudes have changed over time has not been studied extensively, providing a rationale to examine the issue in greater detail. Beavis and colleagues hypothesized that recent data would show that parental attitudes about vaccine safety and sexual issues has decreased.

The study involved data from the Centers for Disease Control’s National Immunization Survey-Teen. The survey tracks national vaccination trends and elicits information about reasons for not initiating vaccination in children and teenagers. Providers are contacted to verify vaccination-related data. About 35,000 households are contacted annually, the data are used to estimate national trends in vaccination.

The analysis was limited to households with girls aged 13 to 17. The analysis covered 85,269 individual surveys conducted during 2010 to 2014. Provider verification was available in 49,345 cases, which showed that HPV vaccine had not been initiated in 22,642 cases and that 26,703 girls had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine. Of the unvaccinated group, 12,401 parents indicated no intention to initiate HPV vaccination.

In the subgroup not intending to initiate vaccination, the median age of the child was 15. Race/ethnicity was white in 70 percent of cases, two thirds had private insurance and 89 percent had income that exceeded the poverty level.

The vaccine initiation rate increased gradually but steadily from 49 percent in 2010 to 60 percent in 2014. Regarding reasons for not initiating the vaccine, the top two reasons in 2010 were concerns about vaccine safety/side effects (23 percent) and perceived lack of need/necessity for vaccination (20 percent). As the third most common reason, parents said their daughters were not sexually active and did not need the vaccine (18 percent). Lack of knowledge (14 percent) and lack of provider recommendation completed the list (9 percent).

In 2014, perceived lack of need/necessity topped the list, followed by safety concerns (17 percent), lack of knowledge about vaccines and vaccination (14 percent), lack of recommendation (10 percent) and slipping to the bottom of the list (9 percent), the belief that the vaccine was not necessary because children were not sexually active.

Comparison of 2010 and 2014 responses showed statistically significant differences for safety/side effect concerns, perceived lack of necessity, beliefs about sexual activity and lack of provider recommendation.

Newsletter

Stay up to date on cancer updates, research and education

Subscribe Now!
Related Videos
Imiage of two doctors with text.
Image of two doctors and text.
Image of patient and doctor.
Image of two doctors with text.
image of gerds
Image of 2 doctors and text.
Image of two doctors and text.
Image of thumbnail.
Image of doctor.
Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli discusses the early use of camizestrant with a CDK4/6 inhibitor to target ESR1 mutations, as it may improve outcomes in metastatic breast cancer.
Related Content
Advertisement
Image of hands.
June 18th 2025

The Person Behind Their Diagnosis: Understanding the Patient

Ryan Scott
Dr. Joshua Sabari and Jackie Herigodt discuss the Imerman Angels organization and the importance of recognizing the person behind their cancer diagnosis.
cancer horizons logo: a white microphone on a navy blue background
March 11th 2024

Oncology Approvals, Psychological Outcomes for Survivors and an Ovarian Cancer Vaccine

Alex Biese Brielle Benyon
Last week we saw some FDA approvals come through, as well as research that explored the psychosocial outcomes of individuals who survived pediatric rhabdosarcoma.
Image of brain
June 16th 2025

Explaining Brain Cancer and Metastases Updates for Patients

Ryan Scott
The 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting highlighted key advances in brain cancer and brain metastases for patients affected by the disease.
cancer horizons image for podcast
December 14th 2023

Conference Highlights from the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting

Brielle Benyon Alex Biese
CURE® recently covered the 2023 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. In case you missed it, here is some news that came out of the conference that patients should know about.
Image of two doctors with text.
June 13th 2025

Updates in Shared Decision-Making in Lung Cancer Following ASCO 2025

Ryan Scott
Treating patients with lung cancer always calls for a focus on informed and shared decision-making, according to expert oncologists.
Image of injection.
June 12th 2025

How Love Helped Me Overcome my Cancer Diagnosis

Glenna Sears-Brinker
Facing two life-threatening diagnoses, I overcame fear of self-injections by leaning on love, encouragement and determination to save my life.
Related Content
Advertisement
Image of hands.
June 18th 2025

The Person Behind Their Diagnosis: Understanding the Patient

Ryan Scott
Dr. Joshua Sabari and Jackie Herigodt discuss the Imerman Angels organization and the importance of recognizing the person behind their cancer diagnosis.
cancer horizons logo: a white microphone on a navy blue background
March 11th 2024

Oncology Approvals, Psychological Outcomes for Survivors and an Ovarian Cancer Vaccine

Alex Biese Brielle Benyon
Last week we saw some FDA approvals come through, as well as research that explored the psychosocial outcomes of individuals who survived pediatric rhabdosarcoma.
Image of brain
June 16th 2025

Explaining Brain Cancer and Metastases Updates for Patients

Ryan Scott
The 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting highlighted key advances in brain cancer and brain metastases for patients affected by the disease.
cancer horizons image for podcast
December 14th 2023

Conference Highlights from the 2023 ASH Annual Meeting

Brielle Benyon Alex Biese
CURE® recently covered the 2023 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. In case you missed it, here is some news that came out of the conference that patients should know about.
Image of two doctors with text.
June 13th 2025

Updates in Shared Decision-Making in Lung Cancer Following ASCO 2025

Ryan Scott
Treating patients with lung cancer always calls for a focus on informed and shared decision-making, according to expert oncologists.
Image of injection.
June 12th 2025

How Love Helped Me Overcome my Cancer Diagnosis

Glenna Sears-Brinker
Facing two life-threatening diagnoses, I overcame fear of self-injections by leaning on love, encouragement and determination to save my life.
About Us
Advertise / Support
Editorial Board
Contact Us
CancerNetwork.com
TargetedOnc.com
OncLive.com
OncNursingNews.com
Terms & Conditions
Privacy
Do Not Sell My Information
Contact Info

2 Commerce Drive
Cranbury, NJ 08512

609-716-7777

© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.