Latino Parents’ Awareness and Receipt of the HPV Vaccine for Sons and Daughters in a State with Low Three-Dose Completion

Latinos suffer a disproportionate burden of human papillomavirus (HPV)-preventable cancers, yet uptake and completion of the HPV vaccine among Latinos is below recommendations. Reasons for low HPV vaccine uptake among Latinos in Utah are unknown. We surveyed Latino parents of HPV vaccine age-eligible adolescents (N = 118). Univariable analyses identified sociodemographic characteristics associated with HPV vaccine awareness, interest, and uptake for daughter(s) and/or son(s) using chi-square tests or Fisher’s exact tests. More parents who had lived in the USA for 15 years or more had vaccinated their daughter (43.6 vs. 32.5 %, p = 0.035) compared to those living in the USA for shorter time periods. Parents born in Mexico reported their son had not received the HPV vaccine (74.6 vs. 58.3 %, p = 0.049) more than those born elsewhere. Parents with Mexican birthplace and ancestry reported not knowing about the HPV vaccine as the main barrier to vaccinating daughters (47.1 vs. 5.9 %, p = 0.002 for both) and sons (birthplace 38.3 vs. 10.3 %, p = 0.007; ancestry 37.1 vs. 11.1 %, p = 0.013) compared to those born or descending elsewhere. Non-acculturated parents with a son were more likely to report not knowing about the HPV vaccine as the main barrier to vaccine receipt (47.6 vs. 12.5 %, p < 0.001). Our results focus on Latinos in an understudied region and complement prior research in other regions. This study may have implications for designing culturally tailored interventions to improve uptake of the HPV vaccine among the growing population of Latinos in Utah, and other states in the Intermountain West.