HPV vaccination coverage in women between 15 and 55 years old in Spain: Temporal trend during the period 2007-2020

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyse the temporal trend of HPV vaccination coverage (VC) in Spain in women aged 15-55 years not included in systematic vaccination programmes during the period 2007-2020.

Methods: We assessed the vaccine coverage rate in this population based on three estimations: 1) annual vaccination coverage with at least one dose (VCR ≥ 1d), 2) annual VC for the full schedule (VCR3d), and 3) cumulative VC for the full schedule (aVCR).

Results: Annual VCR ≥ 1d and VCR3d were highest in 2008 (2.40% and 0.66% respectively) and subsequently decreased drastically in 2011 (0.55% and 0.15%). From 2017 to 2019 there was an increase from 1.4-fold to 1.6-fold, respectively, which decreased in 2020. In relation to aVCR, there was an increasing trend throughout the study period with approximately 4.03% of the study population having been vaccinated against HPV in 2020.

Conclusion: In Spain, the cumulative vaccination coverage against HPV in women between 15-55 years old not included in current vaccination programmes remains very low. Nonetheless, the temporal trend has shown a slight increase in recent years. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, no significant negative impact on vaccination coverage has been observed in this population.