Due to media reports of so-called adverse vaccine events, the Japanese government suspended its recommendation for HPV immunisation in June 2013. Prior to the suspension, the HPV vaccination rate in Japan was about 70%, but it has now dropped to nearly zero. To investigate strategies to improve HPV vaccination, the researchers performed 3 serial surveys of obstetricians and gynaecologists’ views on HPV vaccine between 2014 and 2019. The purpose of this study was to discuss the changing views discovered in a 5-year follow-up survey. They distributed questionnaires to approximately 570 obstetricians and gynaecologists in Osaka, Japan.

The same structured and closed-ended questionnaire was used in all three surveys, including questions about their personal views on HPV vaccination. We compared our new findings to the prior two surveys. The last poll had a response rate of 51.1 percent, which was the same as the previous two surveys. 83.3 percent of respondents said the Japanese government should resume its HPV vaccine recommendation, while 84.6 percent had recommended HPV vaccination for teenagers under their daily care. Following the suspension of the suggestion, 11 of 30 doctors had their own adolescent daughters vaccinated against HPV. The rate has continued to rise since the prior two surveys. This study found that obstetricians and gynaecologists’ attitudes on HPV vaccination in Japan have improved over the last five years.

Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2020.1712173

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