Next, I thought it would be important to dive deeper into my mother’s comment, “Boys don’t need it.” It stuck out to me, so I did some research to see if her opinions were shared by others and looked into other misconceptions.
A study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined reasons for vaccine hesitancy. In 2016, researchers interviewed around 43,000 households. The study revealed there were 5 main reasons: parents felt the vaccination was not necessary for their children, inadequate recommendations from healthcare providers, inadequate information, limited children’s participation in sexual activity. The results of each are shown in the diagram created by Johns Hopkins University (1).
This showed me that though within the minority of hesitant parents (at least in this study), my mom was not alone in her feelings towards the vaccine.
According to this study, quelling the hesitancy in people like my mother would require informing parents of the new research explaining that it is indeed useful, safe and necessary for men.
Misconceptions:
While I was exploring this information, I thought it would be interesting to examine other misconceptions surrounding the virus and vaccine. Several websites, formal and informal, revealed the following ones (2,3,4):
Only women can get HPV
There are treatments for HPV
The HPV vaccine causes health problems
The HPV vaccine can promote sexual activity in teens and preteens
The first and last HPV related myths were definitely held by my mother before my brother was infected. She still holds onto the last one.
However, research has demonstrated that none of these notions are supported statistically (2,5).
Photo Credit: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/the-hpv-vaccine-why-parents-really-choose-to-refuse
References:
1. Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2018, October 24). The HPV Vaccine: Why parents really choose to refuse. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/the-hpv-vaccine-why-parents-really-choose-to-refuse
2. Berkowitz, D. (2015, May 4). HPV and cancer: 9 myths busted. MD Anderson Cancer Center. https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/FOH-HPV-myths.h14-1589835.html
3. Henry Ford Health System Staff. (n.d.). 5 misconceptions about HPV (And the truth about them). Henry Ford Health System | Henry Ford Health System - Detroit, MI. https://www.henryford.com/blog/2019/01/5-misconceptions-about-hpv-and-the-truth-about-them
4. Planned Parenthood. (n.d.). HPV myths vs. facts. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/3413/9611/7996/HPV_Myths_v_Facts.pdf
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, August 5). STD facts - HPV and men. https://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv-and-men.htm