ArticleHuman vaccines & immunotherapeutics2019
HPV vaccine confidence and cases of mass psychogenic illness following immunization in Carmen de Bolivar, Colombia.
Article in Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06700941 (Impact of HPV Vaccination Against Cervical Lesions and Genital Warts in Colombia. an Ecological Assessment), which is not on this map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Impact of HPV Vaccination Against Cervical Lesions and Genital Warts in Colombia. an Ecological Assessment
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- HPV vaccination in a context of public mistrust and uncertainty: a systematic literature review of determinants of HPV vaccine hesitancy in Europe.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2019Pooled it
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- Resilience to HPV vaccine safety scares in seven countries.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- A Questionnaire Survey on Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Among Hospital-Based Healthcare Professionals.Yonago acta medica · 2026Article
- Infodemic Versus Viral Information Spread: Key Differences and Open Challenges.JMIR infodemiology · 2025Article
- Menstrual Cycle Length Changes Following Vaccination Against Influenza Alone or With COVID-19.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Complex chronic adverse events following immunization: a systemic critique and reform proposal for vaccine pharmacovigilance.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of HPV-associated cancers past, present and future: towards prevention and elimination.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2024Review
- Predictable changes in the accuracy of human papillomavirus tests after vaccination: review with implications for performance monitoring in cervical screening.British journal of cancer · 2024Review
- [Communicating Vaccine-related Events: Experiences with ESAVIComunicação de eventos relacionados a vacinas: experiências com ESAVI].Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2024Article
- Asserting a Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder with a Complementary Diagnostic Approach: A Brief Report.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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- "When you get the HPV vaccine, it will prevent cervical cancer; it will act as a shield": adolescent girls' knowledge and perceptions regarding the human papillomavirus vaccine in Zambia.Frontiers in health services · 2023Article
- Evidence of Validity and Measurement Invariance by Gender of the Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) Scale in Colombian University Students.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- HPV-Vaccine Hesitancy in Colombia: A Mixed-Methods Study.Vaccines · 2022Article
- The Vaccine-Hesitant Moment.The New England journal of medicine · 2022Review
- Vaccines and the social amplification of risk.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2022Article
- Reduction in Vaccine HPV Type Infections in a Young Women Group (18-25 Years) Five Years after HPV Vaccine Introduction in Colombia.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2022Article
- Article
- Considerations for causality assessment of neurological and neuropsychiatric complications of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: from cerebral venous sinus thrombosis to functional neurological disorder.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We report the case of multiple adverse reactions following HPV vaccination in Colombian adolescents in Carmen de Bolivar. In August 2012, the country introduced a school-based HPV immunization programme which successfully reached over 90% of the target population in the first year. In 2014, between May 29th and June 2nd,15 adolescent girls in one school presented adverse reactions after vaccination and were admitted to the local hospital. Soon, videos of girls fainting, twitching, and arriving unconscious at emergency rooms started to appear in national news media as well as on social media platforms such as YouTube. The viral spread of these videos and disturbing images were followed by the viral spread of symptoms, with over 600 cases reported across Colombia. Thorough epidemiological investigation by Colombian health authorities found no organic association between the teenagers' symptoms and the HPV vaccine, concluding this was a case of mass psychogenic reaction to vaccination. Scientific evidence did not appease the anxious public whose confidence in HPV immunization dropped dramatically. By 2016, HPV vaccine uptake among eligible girls declined to 14% for the first dose and 5% for the complete course, down from 98% and 88%, respectively, in 2012. We document this case and discuss the role of news and social media, particularly YouTube, as a driver of contagious psychogenic reactions. We also discuss the role of health authorities and government, and the importance of acting rapidly and appropriately to contain the spread of such symptoms and maintain public confidence in vaccines.
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