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CUNY SPH researchers have identified significant gaps in HPV vaccination rates between students with and without autism in New York City public schools. The new study, led by CUNY SPH epidemiology alumnae Abigail Lyons and Mansi Mhatre, with support from the Sexual and Reproductive Justice (SRJ) Hub, analyzed administrative and immunization records to track whether adolescents were up-to-date on the cancer-preventing vaccine.
Using Individualized Education Program (IEP) records linked to the city’s immunization registry for all 365,167 public school students aged 13–21 in the 2022–2023 school year, the team found that autistic students had significantly lower HPV vaccination coverage (adjusted prevalence ratio 0.89; 99% CI 0.88–0.91) after accounting for sociodemographic factors.
Interestingly, this gap did not appear among students with intellectual disability or other IEP categories, nor were there differences by disability status in COVID-19 vaccination uptake, suggesting that the problem is specific to HPV vaccination for autistic youth.
The authors, including CUNY SPH Professor Heidi Jones, hypothesize that persistent misinformation linking vaccines and Autism, as well as misconceptions about autistic youths’ sexual health risks, may be depressing uptake—and they call for targeted outreach to families of students with Autism about HPV vaccine safety and importance.
“Without action to increase HPV vaccine uptake among autistic youth, they are being left under protected from HPV and its related cancers,” says Lyons.
