Parental consent for HPV vaccine should not be waived, poll says

Most adults say parents should be involved in decision for adolescents to get the vaccination that protects against genital warts, cervical cancer

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Most U.S. adults support laws that allow teens to get medical care for sexually transmitted infections without parental consent. But when asked about the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV), most adults want parents to have the final say on whether their teen or pre-teen gets the shots.

The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked a national sample of adults about allowing adolescents age 12 to 17 years old to receive the HPV vaccinations without parental consent.

Only 45 percent of those polled would support state laws allowing the HPV vaccination without parental consent.

"But in contrast, 57 percent say they support teens being able to get medical care for prevention of sexually transmitted infections and 55 percent for treatment, all without parental consent," says Sarah Clark, M.P.H., Associate Director of the Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Unit at the University of Michigan and Associate Director of the National Poll on Children's Health.

In the short term, the HPV vaccine protects against genital warts, one of the most common types of sexually transmitted infection. In the long term, the vaccine prevents development of cervical cancer in females and some head and neck cancers in men.

Routine HPV vaccination is recommended for males and females at 11-12 years of age. The vaccine is most effective if administered before the onset of sexual activity.

"That presents a challenge. Parents aren't thinking their 11 or 12 year-old child is ready for sexual activity at that age," Clark says. "Many parents ask to delay the vaccine until their child is a little older. But older teens go to the doctor much less than younger adolescents, and often they go without a parent."

Public health officials have considered pushing laws that would drop the need for parental consent, in order to boost HPV vaccination rates.

"But in this poll, most agreed they are reluctant to support dropping parental consent, even though 74 percent agreed that getting vaccines is a good way to protect adolescents from disease," Clark says.

Those who did not support dropping parental consent were asked about their reasons. The most common reason, cited by 86 percent, was that HPV should be a parent's decision; 43 percent cited the risk of side effects of the vaccine. About 40 percent said they have moral or ethical concerns about the vaccine.

The support for state laws that would allow HPV vaccination without parental consent was not different between parents and non-parents.

"These poll results show the majority of adults view HPV vaccination as distinct from sexually transmitted infection prevention and are reluctant to support taking away parental consent," Clark says.

"Policymakers and public health officials interested in changing parental consent rules should consider this data and provide education to ensure adults understand the importance of HPV vaccination as a form of prevention against sexually transmitted infections."

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Full report: C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health
http://www.mottnpch.org/reports-surveys/public-reluctant-support-teen-hpv-vaccination-without-parental-consent

Website: Check out the Poll's new website: MottNPCH.org. You can search and browse over 60 NPCH Reports, suggest topics for future polls, share your opinion in a quick poll, and view information on popular topics. The National Poll on Children's Health team welcomes feedback on the new website, including features you'd like to see added. To share feedback, e-mail [email protected].

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Resources:

California Department of Public Health:
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/std/Documents/AB-499-Fact-Sheet.pdf

National Conference of State Legislatures:
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/hpv-vaccine-state-legislation-and-statutes.aspx

Purpose/Funding: The C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health – based at the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the University of Michigan and funded by the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and the University of Michigan Health System – is designed to measure major health care issues and trends for U.S. children.

Data Source: This report presents findings from a nationally representative household survey conducted exclusively by Knowledge Networks, Inc. (KN), for C.S. Mott Children's Hospital via a method used in many published studies. The survey was administered in January 2012 to a randomly selected, stratified group of adults age 18 or older (n=2,131), from the KN standing panel that closely resembles the U.S. population. The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect population figures from the Census Bureau. The survey completion rate was 62 percent among panel members contacted to participate. The margin of error is ±2 to 3 percentage points.

To learn more about Knowledge Networks, visit www.knowledgenetworks.com.

Findings from the U-M C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health do not represent the opinions of the investigators or the opinions of the University of Michigan. 

SOURCE University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health