News Media Portrayal of HPV Vaccine Before Its First Implementation in China

Abstract: News media stories and content can influence people’s understanding of vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases, including making them more knowledgeable about the need for a recommended vaccination and more willing to receive it (Perez, Fedoruk, et al., 2016). China is one of the most recent countries to license and develop HPV vaccine recommendations. In July 2016, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) approved GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, Cervarix, for use in China to help prevent cervical cancer in women. Cervarix will be the first HPV vaccine licensed for use in China and will be launched there in 2017. To help inform risk communication related to HPV vaccine, this study conducted a content analysis of Chinese newspaper articles published between January 1, 2000 and November 1, 2016, focusing on what information about the HPVvaccine was relayed to the public in Chinese news media, and how this content was portrayed before the 2016 licensure and the 2017 HPV vaccine implementation.