Characteristics of Adolescents Lacking Provider-Recommended Human Papillomavirus Vaccination

To characterize subgroups of teens in the United States for whom provider recommendation is less likely to impact human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine initiation.

We analyzed provider-verified vaccination data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2014 National Immunization Survey-Teen. Poisson regression models identified characteristics associated with the lack of HPV vaccine initiation among teens who received a provider recommendation (n = 12,742). Top qualitative reasons for nonvaccination among teens who received a provider recommendation were summarized (n = 1,688).

Among teens with provider recommendations, males, younger teens, and white teens were less likely to initiate vaccination, compared to peers. Believing the vaccine was unnecessary, concerns about safety and lack of vaccine knowledge were common reasons parents did not initiate the vaccine, despite receiving provider recommendations.

These key subgroups and barriers to HPV vaccination should be targeted with interventions that complement provider recommendation to achieve broad vaccine uptake in the United States.