A national cross-sectional study of dentists' vaccine hesitancy and intention to provide HPV vaccines following emergency COVID-19 vaccination authorization.

BACKGROUND

Oropharyngeal cancers are the most common human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers in the United States, yet are largely preventable with timely administration of the HPV vaccine. While the two-dose vaccine is currently underutilized, one strategy to meet the 2030 HPV vaccination goal is to expand dentists' scope of practice to include vaccination. This study was conducted to report dentists' willingness to administer the HPV vaccine to their patients if allowed by state legislation, and to what extent vaccine hesitancy affected their decision.

METHODS

A representative sample of currently licensed dentists (n = 902) completed an electronic survey measuring their willingness to administer the HPV vaccine, vaccine hesitancy using the 5C model, and current HPV vaccination knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. The Transtheoretical Model was used to dichotomize dentists' willingness to provide the HPV vaccine as either 'pre-action' or 'action +', facilitating logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS/CONCLUSION: This study found that over half (56.2 %) of the 902 dentists surveyed reported willingness to administer the HPV vaccine in their practice. Modifiable factors associated with willingness to vaccinate include currently recommending the HPV vaccine to patients, comfort in administering vaccinations, previous training to provide COVID-19 vaccinations, and appropriate practice infrastructures to administer HPV vaccinations. Only the 5C vaccine hesitancy model construct of "Constraints" was predictive of the willingness to administer the HPV vaccine. These findings indicate a need for dentistry to prioritize knowledge and skills-based training in HPV vaccine communication and administration to prepare dentists to provide vaccines in their practices as state legislation allows.