Sun Xiaohe, Sun Tyler, Lau Sharlane C L, McArthur Allison, Nath Ishani, Shapiro Gilla K
Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2025 Dec;21(1):2530290. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2530290. Epub 2025 Jul 18.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause several cancers. In Canada, HPV vaccination is publicly funded, yet uptake has not consistently reached coverage targets. Media reporting on the perspectives of religious leaders may impact vaccine behavior; however, there has been limited exploration of media depictions of religious perspectives of HPV vaccination in Canada. This study examined the content and tone of news media's depiction of religion and HPV vaccination in Canada. To identify news reports for our content analysis, we searched Canadian Newsstream, Global Newsstream, and Factiva for English language news articles between 2006 and 2024. Published articles covered a 13-year period (2006-2018); no articles were found between 2019 and 2024. We coded 333 articles for: (1) publication information, (2) article tone, (3) description of religious leaders' or members' views toward HPV vaccination, (4) voices represented, and (5) HPV vaccination content reported. Most articles adopted a neutral (72%) or positive (23%) tone toward HPV vaccination. Most articles (97%) focused on Catholic perspectives, with minimal inclusion of other faiths. The most frequently quoted voices in the articles were from school board trustees or administrators (46%), religious leaders (45%), and healthcare professionals (43%). In the articles, medical professionals (68%) and community leaders (45%) were frequently cited as endorsing the HPV vaccine, while religious leaders were less often cited as endorsing vaccination (14%). Support for the vaccine by religious leaders or members primarily focused on disease prevention, while opposition often centered on concerns about promoting sexual activity and misalignment with religious values. As HPV vaccination policies evolve, including endorsement from interfaith leaders and other stakeholders may be important for inclusive health journalism, accurate portrayal of wide-ranging religious perspectives, and the public health priority to increase HPV vaccination.
人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）可引发多种癌症。在加拿大，HPV疫苗接种由公共资金资助，但接种率一直未达到覆盖目标。媒体对宗教领袖观点的报道可能会影响疫苗接种行为；然而，在加拿大，对媒体对HPV疫苗接种宗教观点的描述的探讨有限。本研究调查了加拿大新闻媒体对宗教与HPV疫苗接种描述的内容和基调。为确定用于内容分析的新闻报道，我们在加拿大新闻流数据库、全球新闻流数据库和Factiva中搜索了2006年至2024年期间的英文新闻文章。已发表的文章涵盖13年时间（2006 - 2018年）；2019年至2024年期间未找到相关文章。我们对333篇文章进行了编码，内容包括：（1）发表信息，（2）文章基调，（3）宗教领袖或成员对HPV疫苗接种观点的描述，（4）所呈现的声音，以及（5）报道的HPV疫苗接种内容。大多数文章对HPV疫苗接种持中立（72%）或积极（23%）的基调。大多数文章（97%）聚焦于天主教观点，极少提及其他宗教。文章中最常被引用的声音来自学校董事会受托人或管理人员（46%）、宗教领袖（45%）和医疗保健专业人员（43%）。在文章中，医疗专业人员（68%）和社区领袖（45%）常被引述为支持HPV疫苗，而宗教领袖被引述为支持接种疫苗的情况较少（14%）。宗教领袖或成员对疫苗的支持主要集中在疾病预防方面，而反对意见往往集中在对促进性行为的担忧以及与宗教价值观不符上。随着HPV疫苗接种政策的演变，纳入不同宗教领袖和其他利益相关者的支持对于包容性健康新闻报道、准确呈现广泛的宗教观点以及提高HPV疫苗接种这一公共卫生优先事项可能很重要。
