Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the leading sexually transmitted disease in the US, yet HPV vaccination rates lag behind other routine childhood immunizations. This may be, in part, because only one-third of vaccine-hesitant parents got their child vaccinated against the virus.
Clinicians play a key role in persuading more families to get the vaccine. According to a new study, parents who were unsure about whether to vaccinate their child against HPV were over 400% more likely to do so when their clinician recommended it.
Why don’t more healthcare providers actively recommend the shot? “Additional research is needed to understand why pediatric HPV vaccine recommendations are not made more often or consistently, particularly among vaccine-hesitant populations,” the study’s authors said. One possible explanation offered by the researchers was that some physicians may misinterpret parents’ vaccine hesitancy as outright refusal, which discourages the physician from engaging with them further on the topic.
Full Story: CIDRAP