Social determinants of HPV vaccination delay rationales: Evidence from the 2011 National Immunization Survey-Teen.

Objective. To examine social variations in parental rationales for delaying or forgoing human papillomavirus vaccination in their U.S. adolescent children. 

Methods. Using data from the 2011 National Immunization Survey–Teen, we estimated a series of binary logistic regression models to predict the odds of reporting (1) any vaccine delay (n = 25,229) and (2) specific rationales among parents who reported that they were “not likely at all” to vaccinate their teen (n = 9,964). 

Results. The odds of not receiving a recommendation to vaccinate were higher in parents of boys (OR = 2.57; CI = 2.20–3.01). The odds of reporting a lack of knowledge were higher in parents who identified as Hispanic (OR = 1.39; CI = 1.11–1.72), Black (OR = 1.49; CI = 1.19–1.85), and other races (OR = 1.43; CI = 1.13– 1.80) than parents who identified as non-Hispanic White. Socioeconomic disparities in parental rationales for delaying human papillomavirus vaccination in their teen children were sporadic and inconsistent. 

Conclusion. Our results suggest that interventions should focus on increasing information about the benefits of the human papillomavirus vaccine among parents of minority youth. Our findings also suggest that interventions targeting health care providers may be a useful strategy for improving vaccine uptake among adolescent males.