Parents Give Green Light to Concept of Vaccinating Children against STIs

Most parents would welcome the opportunity to vaccinate their pre-teen and teenage children against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as genital herpes, according to the findings of a new study carried out in the United States.

Several vaccines for STIs are currently being developed and have the potential to reduce the spread of conditions such as HIV, genital herpes and hepatitis B. These vaccines are likely to be targeted towards young adolescents since their risk of becoming infected with an STI tends to peak as they become sexually active.

However, as little is known about how parents may react to this concept a study was set up to examine parents views. The results of the first stage of this study are now available.

The study was conducted by interviewing parents attending two paediatric primary care sites with their children. The ages of the children ranged from 8 to 17 years. The parents were questioned about their current knowledge of four STIs: genital herpes, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human papillomavirus (HPV) and gonorrhea. They were then asked to assume that a safe and effective vaccine were available and to state how likely they would be to have their child immunised against each disease, explaining their rationale in each case.

A majority of the parents (over 70%) said yes, they would vaccinate their child against all four of the STIs. HIV scored the highest level of acceptance, with 91% of parents saying they would have their child immunised against it. 79% accepted the concept of a vaccine for genital herpes, 76% for gonorrhea and 73% for HPV. The most frequently mentioned reason for agreeing to vaccination was a simple desire to protect the child. Some parents referred to specific features of the diseases as a reason for approving vaccination, such as the incurable nature of genital herpes, the cancer causing potential of HPV and the potentially fatal consequences of HIV.

Eight of the ten parents who rejected the idea of vaccinating against STIs believed that their child was at low risk for contracting any of the diseases. They cited various reasons including the fact that their child was not yet sexually active or specific personality traits of their offspring, such as being cautious, shy and not easily talked into things. Three parents refused on the grounds that some of the diseases were not life-threatening or could be effectively managed. Some said that they did not have sufficient information to make an informed decision, particularly about HPV and gonorrhea. A proportion of the parents rejecting vaccination said that if they became aware that their child was, or was about to become, sexually active, they would agree to vaccination. Only one parent objected to the vaccine on moral grounds.

The authors of the study conclude that the general notion of an STI vaccine for pre-teen and teenage children is likely to be acceptable to many parents. The results suggest that parents are interested in safeguarding their children from the health risks of unsafe sexual activity.
Reference RM Mays et al. Parental perspectives on vaccinating children against sexually transmitted infections. Social Science & Medicine 58 (2004) 1405-1413