Saudi parent survey finds high childhood vaccination but uneven HPV awareness

A cross-sectional online survey of 513 parents in Saudi Arabia found high self-reported childhood vaccination coverage but less uniform awareness of and willingness to recommend human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Overall, 98.8% of respondents said their children had received routine vaccinations, and 90.6% reported completing the recommended vaccinations. General vaccine awareness was reported by 96.9%, while awareness of national immunization programs was reported by 57.9%.

Among the parents surveyed, 68.6% said they were aware of the HPV vaccine, 52.4% said they would recommend HPV vaccination for their child, and 19.1% selected “I don’t know” when asked about making a recommendation. Researchers conducted the survey from June to July 2025 using an Arabic questionnaire adapted to examine vaccination awareness and perceptions, sources of vaccination information, parent-reported vaccination practices and experiences, and awareness of national immunization programs. Two HPV-specific questions assessed awareness of the vaccine and recommendation intention.

The investigators used descriptive analyses, chi-square tests and Fisher’s exact tests for group comparisons. They also fitted a multivariable binary logistic regression to examine factors associated with HPV vaccine awareness and an exploratory multinomial logistic regression to compare different recommendation intentions. Because the study was observational, cross-sectional and based on self-reports through an online questionnaire, it describes reported attitudes and behaviors rather than independently verified vaccination records, and its associations cannot establish that any measured factor caused awareness or recommendation intention.

Health workers were the most frequently selected source of vaccination information, selected by 60.0% of respondents. The survey also found that 61.4% of parents reported being satisfied with vaccination information in the media. The source questions concerned vaccination information generally and did not separately establish which sources parents used for HPV vaccination.

The data therefore do not support treating the health-worker finding as a direct measure of HPV information-seeking or as evidence about the adequacy of public coverage. Adjusted analysis found several characteristics associated with HPV vaccine awareness. Female respondents had higher odds of reporting awareness than male respondents, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.87 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.23–2.86.

Parents in every other region included in the analysis had higher adjusted odds of awareness than parents in the Southern region, with adjusted odds ratios ranging from 2.02 to 3.38 across the regional comparisons. These are cross-sectional geographic associations, not evidence of a decline or improvement over time. Parents who reported problems during vaccination also had higher adjusted odds of HPV awareness, with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.82 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.76–4.51.

Parents who expressed either a harmful or non-harmful view of vaccination also had higher adjusted odds of awareness than those who answered “I don’t know” to the general vaccination-view question. In the exploratory multinomial model, HPV vaccine awareness was associated with a lower relative likelihood of answering “I don’t know” rather than “Yes” when asked whether respondents would recommend HPV vaccination for their child. The adjusted relative risk ratio was 0.07, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.04–0.13.

The estimate indicates a strong statistical association in this sample, but it does not show that HPV awareness caused parents to recommend vaccination. Taken together, the results portray a population in which routine childhood immunization was widely reported, while HPV awareness and recommendation intention were less consistent and included a sizable undecided group. The authors concluded that the findings support stronger provider communication and credible public messaging, particularly for lower-awareness regions and uncertain parents.

The study’s online, self-reported, cross-sectional design and the limited number of HPV-specific questions mean that the results should be interpreted as a snapshot of this surveyed population rather than a causal evaluation of vaccine communication or a measure of vaccination coverage across all Saudi parents.

Subject of Research: Parental perceptions, childhood immunization practices and HPV vaccine awareness in Saudi Arabia

Article Title: Parental perceptions, information sources, and practices related to childhood immunization and HPV vaccine awareness in Saudi Arabia: an observational study

Article References: Yasmeen, A., Syed, M. H., Khardali, A., Alfarhan, M., Thaibah, H. A., Almansour, H. A., Al-Qahtani, S. A., Khawaji, Y. M., Qadiri, S. A., Faqihi, A. I., Hallush, J. D., Alhazmi, A. H., & Alshammari, T. M. (2026). Parental perceptions, information sources, and practices related to childhood immunization and HPV vaccine awareness in Saudi Arabia: an observational study. Frontiers in Public Health, 14, Article 1992535. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1992535

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1992535

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, childhood immunization, HPV vaccine, parental attitudes, vaccine awareness, health communication, cross-sectional survey, public health, Parental, perceptions, information, sources