HPV Vaccination and Awareness Programs at Maryland Colleges and Universities.

Abstract

Context: About half of adolescents aged 13 to 17 in United States are not fully vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV). As they age into young adulthood, colleges may be an excellent target population nexus for implementing interventions to improve HPV vaccination uptake.

Objectives: Our study goal was to generate knowledge about HPV vaccine offerings and awareness programs at colleges to ascertain the extent of campus-facilitated access to HPV immunization and education in 1 state.

Design: An electronic survey was designed and emailed to 32 of 47 Maryland colleges for which relevant campus contacts could be identified.

Settings: The study took place at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in consultation with the Maryland Cancer Collaborative and the Maryland Department of Health.

Participants: Maryland colleges and universities.

Main outcome measures: HPV vaccine and awareness program offerings on college and university campuses.

Results: Twenty Maryland colleges responded. Two colleges offer awareness programs only. Ten colleges offer HPV vaccine, covering about 39% of Maryland college students. Of these, 4 colleges schedule "periodic" campus health clinics or provide an immunization prescription, which is filled at nearby pharmacies. In all colleges, which offer HPV vaccine, immunization is offered to everyone (both men and women) at no out-of-pocket cost.

Conclusions: In cooperation with the Maryland Cancer Collaborative, the implementation arm for the Maryland Cancer Control Plan, we showed that college campuses are an excellent target site for implementation of interventions to improve access of college age students to HPV vaccine and awareness programs. We lay the groundwork for recommendations, programs and policies that can improve HPV vaccine offerings among college students thus raising the HPV vaccination rate in young adults. Simple inexpensive alternatives to offering vaccine at college health centers may be periodic campus health clinics and arrangements with nearby pharmacies.