Assessing Factors Influencing Vaccine Hesitancy for Cervical Cancer among Women in Islamabad

Abstract

A grave concern in public health for Human Papilloma Virus exists in the form of vaccine hesitancy. Although, the effectiveness of HPV vaccine in women is widely known and documented, however, the coverage among them remains critically low. The purpose of this study was to investigate the likelihood of HPV vaccine hesitancy in females aged 09 to 26 years in Islamabad, Pakistan. It determined the influencing factors for vaccine acceptability along with facilitators and obstacles. For this purpose, A quantitative cross-sectional study design was adopted. Convenience sampling was done and data was collected from 270 participants. The questionnaire included different measuring tools from validated scales like the WHO SAGE Vaccine Hesitancy Scale. Pilot testing was done, and the reliability test showed a satisfactory internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.747. IBM SPSS version 26 was used to analyze the data. The descriptive analysis showed a rate of willingness for vaccination at 58.8% indicating favorable attitudes towards vaccination. The challenges that influenced hesitancy included grievances regarding lasting health effects (45.2%), halal compliance (41.9%) and rumors (31.1%). Enablers were information from reliable sources, advice from the healthcare professionals (43.3%), perception of vaccine to work (52.6%) and confidence in governmental campaigns (24.8%). A significant association was observed with education and increased hesitancy at a p-value of 0.04. Other influential factors that were observed included exposure to misinformation, cultural or religious considerations. The findings emphasize the importance of directed public health interventions rather than general educational campaigns, advocacy on digital health literacy and using trusted healthcare sources can help to mitigate fears and misinformation as well as combat stigma and xenophobia. These findings can be used to increase the acceptance and uptake of HPV vaccine in general population.