Dangerous Agent or Saviour? HPV Vaccine Representations on Online Discussion Forums in Romania

Abstract

Online posts are likely to elicit fear and doubts around vaccination, which in turn may impair decisions. Findings indicate that targeted education campaigns are needed in order to address public concerns about vaccination.

The benefit of the doubt or doubts over benefits? A systematic literature review of perceived risks of vaccines in European populations

“…In the 29 articles that studied HPV vaccination , the most common concerns identified were about safety, and particularly unknown adverse reactions that might develop long after vaccination [104][105][106][107][108][109][110]112,113,[115][116][117][118][119][120][123][124][125][126][127][129][130][131][132]. These concerns often came with discussion around the newness of the vaccine [104,107,112,113,117,126,129], and claims that it has not been tested long enough [104,105,107,115,122,[129][130][131].…”

“…These concerns often came with discussion around the newness of the vaccine [104,107,112,113,117,126,129], and claims that it has not been tested long enough [104,105,107,115,122,[129][130][131]. Many articles reported concerns about a lack of clear information around HPV infection and vaccination, and individuals feeling that they have insufficient knowledge to make an informed decision [104,1 08,109,112,116,118-121,127,128,132].…”

“…Some also mentioned that participants believed insufficient testing of the vaccine meant there were too many uncertainties around long-term effectiveness of the vaccine [107,109,112,113,119,131]. Some studies reported beliefs that children are too young to receive the HPV vaccine [104,107,118,119,121,122,126], and fears of a ''sexually transmitted infection vaccine" leading to unsafe sexual behaviours and increased promiscuity [107,110,117,121,124,125,130]. Some also discussed personal values or faith issues [104,110,122], and others the difficulty of talking about a ''sex vaccine" [110,112,117,132].…”

“…Some also discussed personal values or faith issues [104,110,122], and others the difficulty of talking about a ''sex vaccine" [110,112,117,132]. Another important belief was that there is no risk of contracting HPV [112,114,122,129,130] and therefore no need for vaccination [105,112,115,122,130]. The perception that the risks of vaccination are higher than benefits were more common than for other vaccines [106,107,118,130] and one study mentioned the perception that HPV infection is not a serious illness [129].…”

Human Papillomavirus Vaccine - Knowledge and Attitudes among Parents of Children Aged 10-14 Years: a Cross-sectional Study, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania

“…However, a very small percentage of girls were vaccinated. Although there have been other attempts at vaccination launched by healthcare officials in Romania, the acceptance rate remained insignificant and programmes were discontinued (11,12). A successful vaccination programme requires a high rate of acceptance and accurate information targeting both health professionals and parents.…”