Published Aug 5, 2020

Anti-Vaxxers Spread Misinformation, Thwarting Cancer Prevention Made Possible by HPV Vaccine

Parents who learn about the HPV vaccine on Facebook are more likely to believe anti-vaxxer myths than the real facts about its life-saving benefits

Sonya Collins

Details

For as long as there have been vaccines, anti-vaxxers have spread misinformation about them and sown seeds of doubt in the minds of anyone who will listen. Now, their message may have dealt a serious blow to public perception of the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine. And social media is their soapbox. Those were the findings of a recent study in the Kansas Journal of Medicine.

Myths on Facebook Sway Parents

The study, which surveyed parents of vaccine-age children in Kansas, found that most parents had seen information about the HPV vaccine on social media. And those who had were more likely to believe the cancer-preventing immunization could kill their child.

In fact, the exact opposite is true; there is no evidence that the vaccine can cause death, according to the CDC, which collects and analyzes all reports of any negative physical reaction to vaccines major or minor. The shot does, however, help save lives by preventing infection with several strains of HPV. These strains can cause potentially deadly cervical, anal and throat cancers, as well as cancers of the vulva, vagina, and penis.

"There is no myth," says Ted Teknos, MD, President and Scientific Director of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, OH. "HPV causes cancer. It's a sexually transmitted disease, and it's an epidemic in the United States. When you are vaccinated, you can't be infected with that strain."

HPV Vaccine Prevents Many Cancers

HPV is responsible for about 44,000 cancers a year 90 percent of cervical cancers, up to 70 percent of throat cancers, and nearly half of penile, vulvar and vaginal cancers.

It’s dangerous that negative posts about the vaccine seem to get more traction on social media than fact-based posts about the dangers of these diseases. The study analyzed some 6,000 HPV vaccine-related Facebook posts and found that nearly half were negative. These types of posts tend to rack up more comments and other engagement, such as likes and shares, than scientifically accurate posts. They also invite more material just like them. This, the researchers believe, helps grow the ranks of anti-vaxxers.

A Cancer Vax, Not an STD Vax

People who resist or outright reject vaccines tend to fall into one of several camps. Some reject all vaccines for numerous unfounded reasons, such as the single erroneous and long-ago debunked study claiming that vaccines caused autism. Others have worries about ingredients in certain vaccines. But, where HPV is concerned, parents may resist only vaccines that protect against sexually transmitted diseases. They might feel the shot isn't age-appropriate.

But, it's not about the age at which a person will start having sex. It's about when the body will have the strongest immune response. Getting vaccinated at nine, says Teknos, compared to eleven, better prepares the immune system to remember how to fight the actual virus should it ever have to.

That many parents associate the shot with an STD rather than cancer is a real PR problem.

"The HPV vaccine enables parents to protect their children from developing cancer in the future," Teknos says. "I think rebranding the vaccine as a cancer vaccine, rather than an STD vaccine, is critically important to changing the mindset around it and its effect on our society."

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