"All for Them" Vaccination Program Launches New Website

Published: January 24, 2022

The UTHealth Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research has launched a new website for the highly successful HPV vaccination program All for Them (AFT). The new website has a modern, updated design and helps parents, students, and the public understand why HPV vaccination is critical for cancer prevention, navigates users to find a school-based clinic in participating school districts, allows user to directly download consent forms to participate, and is available in Spanish.

“Every year, 14 million Americans are infected with HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and other cancers,” said Paula Cuccaro, PhD, Principal Investigator. “And while the HPV vaccine can protect against the virus that causes the majority of these cancers, here in Texas, HPV vaccination rates are low compared with other states. That’s what we’re trying to turn around with All for Them.”

AFT is a multilevel, multicomponent program with the goal of increasing HPV vaccination among youth living in underserved areas across Texas. The program has been active since 2017. Since then, the program has reached the parents of more than 30,000 Houston, Baytown, and Fort Worth middle and high school students annually and provided free immunizations to over 4,000 students, with the majority receiving HPV vaccines. All for Them has achieved impressive increases in HPV vaccination rates in participating schools in Houston, as well as positive shifts in attitudes towards and awareness of the HPV vaccine. Evaluation of the program in other cities is in process.

Lack of access to low or no cost vaccines and a lack of awareness or hesitancy regarding the HPV vaccine are some of the greatest obstacles to increasing these vaccination rates. AFT employs three evidence-based strategies that work in tandem to overcome these obstacles. These include:

• A bilingual social marketing campaign aimed at parents and caregivers
• Comprehensive vaccination clinics in schools, offering all childhood and adolescent vaccines
• Continuing education about HPV vaccination for school nurses

“We’re very excited to offer this new and improved, comprehensive website, which will help All for Them achieve our goals by getting parents and students the critical information they need about HPV and other immunizations and making it easier for them to get vaccinated right at school,” says Efrat Gabay, MPH, AFT Program Manager.

The new website is available at www.allforthemvaccines.com. Follow All for Them on Twitter and Facebook.