[Extension of HPV vaccination to boys: Survey of families and general practitioners].

Introduction: As part of an analysis on the extension of the HPV vaccination to French boys, the French National Cancer Institute (INCa) and the French National Authority for Health (HAS) have conducted in collaboration a survey on HPV vaccine acceptance in July 2019. This survey was completed by parents of children aged 11-19 and general practitioners (GPs). Questions focused on their representations, practices and intentions in the context of the future policy change allowing boys to get vaccinated against HPV.

Methods: The survey was conducted between June 20 and July 12, 2019. It focused on two populations: a nationally representative sample of parents with at least one girl aged 11-19 and/or one boy aged 11-14 (n=1984) and a representative sample of GPs in mainland France. Data were collected through a web-based questionnaire with a mean completion time of 10minutes for parents and GPs. The quota method was applied to ensure the representative nature of the samples based on (i) gender, age, children (girl aged 11-14 and/or boy aged 11-14) of the household, socio-professional category of the "head of the household", size of urban area and region for the parents' sample and based on (ii) gender, age, region and type of practice for the GPs' sample.

Results: Although most GPs were very favourable towards HPV vaccination (94%), they considered it one of the most challenging vaccinations to get parents to adhere to (82%). A notable percentage of parents have unfavourable opinions towards HPV vaccination (25%). The three main barriers cited by parents of non-vaccinated girls were: the fear of adverse effects, the lack of information, and the fact that the GP did not propose it. Regarding the extension of HPV vaccination to boys, 84 % of GPs would recommend this vaccination to boys if it was included in the vaccination schedule, and 88 % of those who did not routinely recommend HPV vaccination to girls would be more likely to offer it to girls if the extension was recommended.