Rates of human papillomavirus vaccine uptake amongst girls five years after introduction of statewide mandate in Virginia

Background: The Commonwealth of Virginia enacted statewide school-entry human papillomavirus vaccine mandate in 2008 requiring all girls to receive the vaccine before starting the 6th grade. The mandate, one of very few in the country, has been in effect for 5 years. This study assesses the impact that it has had on the rates of human papillomavirus uptake.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the uptake of the human papillomavirus vaccine among girls seeking well-child care 5 years after the introduction of a statewide mandate in Virginia in October 2008.

Study design: This prospective cohort study used the Clinical Data Repository at the University of Virginia to identify girls 11-12 years old who was seen for well-child care from January to December 2014. Billing and diagnosis codes were used to establish human papillomavirus vaccine administration. Those girls who were identified through the Clinical Data Repository were then contacted by advance letter followed by a representative from the University of Virginia Center for Survey Research who invited the responsible parent or guardian to complete a 50-item telephone questionnaire. Questionnaire results were used to inform objective findings and to assess parental attitudes that were related to human papillomavirus vaccination. Findings were compared against those of Pierce et al (2013), who evaluated human papillomavirus vaccination levels in a similar cohort of patients in 2008, before mandate enactment, to assess relative change attributable to vaccine mandate.

Results: Nine hundred eight girls were identified through the Clinical Data Repository; 50.9% of the girls received at least 1 dose of human papillomavirus vaccine. White race and private insurance coverage were found to be associated negatively with human papillomavirus vaccine uptake (relative risk, 0.74 and 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.85 and 0.62-0.81, respectively). Black race and public insurance coverage were found to be associated positively with vaccine uptake (relative risk, 1.35 and 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.55 and 1.22-1.58, respectively). In comparison with the previous study, there has been no change in human papillomavirus vaccine uptake or distribution of uptake after the introduction of the statewide mandate for human papillomavirus vaccination.

Conclusion: The statewide human papillomavirus vaccine mandate has had no impact on the overall rate of human papillomavirus vaccination, nor has it diminished the previously described racial or payer disparities in vaccine uptake in school-aged girls being seen for well-child care in the state of Virginia.