Aim: To explore why parents refused to allow their ten to 12-year-old daughters to

receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination from the Swedish schoolbased

vaccination programme.

Methods: Individual interviews with 25 parents who had been offered, but not

consented to, their daughters receiving the HPV vaccination.

Results: Five themes emerged through the interviews: 1) she is just a little girl, 2)

inadequate information, 3) not compatible with our way of life, 4) scepticism about

the vaccination and 5) who can you trust? The parents made their decisions with

their child’s best interests in mind. This was not considered the right time and the

vaccine was perceived as unnecessary and different from other vaccines. Mistrust in

Government recommendations and a lack of evidence or information were other

reasons to decline.

Conclusion: The decision-making process was complex. These parents preferred

to wait until their daughter was older and believed the information they received from

the school health system was insufficient. The results indicate that a more flexible

HPV vaccination schedule may improve vaccine uptake. This includes more

transparent information about the virus and the vaccine and information about who

to contact to get the daughter vaccinated at a later date.