Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HPV vaccine uptake in a predominantly Hispanic Border Community: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the "Tiempo de Vacunarte Program".

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer in the cervix, vagina, throat and anogenital region. Although HPV vaccination rates in the Hispanic community have increased owing to public health efforts, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unique public health challenges and contributed to health inequity in this population.

Methods: To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HPV vaccine uptake in a program designed to improve HPV vaccination rate in a predominantly Hispanic community in the border region of Texas (Tiempo de Vacunarte [time to get vaccinated]), we performed a retrospective cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the uptake of the first dose of HPV vaccine series among eligible adolescents and adults before (2016-2019), during (2020-2021), and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2022-2023).