Background/Objective: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of cervical, vaginal, penile, throat, and anal cancer. Refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities experience several barriers to completing vaccinations. Refugee resettlement agencies and immigrant welcome centers are designed to play a pivotal role in ensuring families have the resources and support the transition to life in a new community. This study aims to assess the barriers experienced by these immigrant and refugee welcome centers or resettlement agencies in facilitating access to HPV vaccination for their families.

Methods: To conduct this study, a survey with a set of survey questions evaluating legal, transportation, affordability, information gaps, and systemic barriers to accessing HPV vaccination was disseminated. After a thorough search, eight agencies were identified and recruited.

Results: Out of the eight agencies contacted, three agencies responded to the survey. As responses continue to come in, preliminary results indicate that the centers believe a low percentage of their families are receiving HPV vaccination. Cost of vaccination, scheduling difficulties, physical barriers, and perceptions about HPV were identified as the highly influential factors for the vaccination rates.

Conclusion: Responses from the survey indicated that the different efforts by the refugee resettlement agencies and immigrant welcome centers have addressed several barriers to accessing vaccinations. Despite these efforts, the cost of vaccination, scheduling difficulties, physical barriers, and perceptions of HPV continue to influence low vaccination rates. The identified barriers were highly influenced by the agency and the type of resources the agency had available to enable their clients to have access to vaccination. This presents an opportunity for continued collaboration between the Indiana Immunization Coalition, immigrant welcome centers, and refugee resettlement agencies.