The national HPV vaccination programme in Sweden only includes girls. Several other countries have included also boys in their programmes. There are currently discussions in Sweden about whether it is beneficial to also include boys in the programme.
The objective of the present study was to explore parents’ views of extending the vaccination programme to also include HPV vaccination for young boys.
Interviews with parents (N=42) who were offered HPV vaccination for their 11–12 year old daughter. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were then analysed with qualitative content analysis.
The analysis resulted in five preliminary categories: Inequality in health services, Preference for gender equal vaccination, No reason to vaccinate boys against a female disease, Girls are more vulnerable, and Inequality in sexual and reproductive health responsibility. In the interviews, parents expressed low awareness about male HPV vaccination and the risk for boys to contract HPV infection and HPV-related cancer. However, several parents asked the question “If boys can spread this virus why shouldn’t they be vaccinated?” Some parents believed girls were targets for a vaccine experiment and some parents questioned the safety and benefits of the vaccine since it was not offered to all children. On the other hand, parents also saw it as positive that girls’ health was prioritized. Some parents were not willing to vaccinate their daughter because she was seen as too vulnerable but they were positive towards vaccinating their sons.
A vaccine offered only to girls may create vaccine hesitancy among parents. Including also boys in the national vaccination programme might be beneficial to improve parents’ trust in the vaccine. This may lead to increased HPV vaccine coverage among both girls and boys eventually.